Hamilton Parish are on the verge of making FA Cup history.

Should Hot Peppers upset the form book and topple cup holders North Village from the prestigious competition at Southampton Oval tomorrow, the Crawl Hill club will become the first-ever First Division side to appear in successive FA Cup finals.

The East Enders only recently secured the services of John Rebello as coach and Leroy (Nibs) Lewis as club technical director.

Rebello coached Vasco Da Gama to the triple crown championship (Premier Division championship, Friendship Trophy and FA Cup) in 1997-98 while Lewis coached perennial FA Cup giants PHC Zebras to multiple cup titles.

Parish will again pin their hopes of success upon a team comprised of seasoned campaigners ? many of whom have resigned their services to playing commercial division football ? could be bolstered by the return of veteran striker Corey Hill. Hill is due to undergo a late fitness test today while team-mate Nigel Burgess ? one of the Island?s top future prospects ? is due to fly in tonight from Washington for tomorrow?s key clash pitting David against Goliath.

Peppers ousted inaugural FA Cup finalists Southampton Rangers six-days ago in the quarter-finals at the Oval.

When contacted yesterday, Peppers captain Irving Burgess declined to speak to The Royal Gazette.

Tomorrow?s contest at the Oval ? the venue where Parish defeated Somerset Trojans en route to appearing in a maiden FA Cup final ? will be a repeat of last season?s final which saw Village make further inroads towards the record for the overall most wins in the competition celebrating its 50th anniversary.

Trojans and PHC Zebras currently share the record for the most wins with nine apiece. Village presently have eight wins under their belt, their first arriving in 1977-78 ? the same year they won the coveted triple crown championship.

The Reds are gunning for a tenth overall appearance in the final.

Zebras hold the record for most FA Cup final appearances (17) while Trojans have made 11 trips to the season-ending finale.

While Parish will again rely on experience, and a little bit of luck, much remains to be seen just how they cope against a team possessing one of the most impregnable defences and lethal attacks in domestic football.

Village, who have only been beaten three times this season, clinched a seventh overall Premier Division championship and a seventh overall Friendship Trophy title earlier this month.

The Reds have now won three league titles in the past five-seasons and are now within two wins of hoisting a third FA Cup in four seasons.

Village will be at full strength with teenaged scoring sensation, Keishen Bean, having now shaken off the effects of a slight ankle injury.

Reds assistant coach Maceo Dill has urged his troops to stay focused on the task at hand at not get caught up in all the hype.

?And I expect our players to follow the game plan we have in place,? he added. ?And if they can execute, then we should come away with a favourable result.?

Dill, who attended Alabama A&M University along with Parish striker Hill, would also like to see his marksmen hit the target with better accuracy than they did against Peppers during last season?s FA Cup final at the National Sports Centre (NSC).

?As much as we controlled that game (last year?s final) they had a tactical game plan to shut us out and to some degree they prevented us from scoring,? Dill said.

?But I?m not going to make any predictions over what I expect from Parish. Our aim is to follow the game plan that we have in place.?

Village will enter tomorrow?s cup clash as favourites.

?Expectations to do well are on us whereas Parish have absolutely nothing to lose,? Dill said. ?But we have dealt with this sort of pressure before like last weekend against Prospect United where we found our backs against the wall trailing but still came out winners.

?So now we find ourselves in a similar position going up against Parish this weekend and the responsibility and onus to win is actually on us.?