Devonshire Rec., which might not be welcome news for St. George's who take on Dandy Town in the feature match at 9.00.

It will cut their travelling time down by half but the Rec. has not been a happy hunting ground for the East Enders over the years.

St. George's, entering their most important month of the season, face another critical match on Friday night when they take on BAA in the league, to be followed on January 22 by their FA Cup clash with North Village.

The closest St. George's have come to winning a major trophy in football was in 1986-87 when they reached the final of the Friendship where they lost 4-3 to PHC.

Defending champions Dandy Town stand as their first hurdle and, having already lost the Dudley Eve, Town will be determined not to lose the Friendship along with it.

With the situation in the league being so close St. George's coach Neil Paynter admitted his main priority was to finish high enough to qualify for the Martonmere Cup next season, a feat which has always eluded the club.

"I hope we can kick in fairly soon because the second half of the season is a very important part of the season and it separates the boys from the men in terms of whether you're going to stay up, go down or challenge for anything,'' said Paynter, a former Town player.

"January is a very important month as far as the league, FA as well as Friendship are concerned.'' Only once, when they beat BAA 3-1 in their second match of the season, have St. George's scored more than one goal in a match this season. With the likes of Clay Smith, the top scorer, Dean Minors, Ricky Hill, Jerome Laws and Gregg Foggo there is plenty of punch up front but Paynter is still searching for the right combination.

"The combination we have now, Dean and Clay, is a good combination, but this is only the second game they have played together,'' added Paynter. "If they can stick it out the remainder of the season I think this could be the combination for us.'' Clay leads the team's scoring with seven goals with the next being Foggo with two.

"Obviously it's going to be a tough game against Dandy Town, they are a good team with a lot of depth,' Paynter conceded. "It's going to be a midfield battle and the team that wins that battle should be the successful team.'' St. George's began the second half of the season drawing with league leaders Somerset on Sunday after Marlon Outerbridge had given them the lead just before the half.

"It was nice to see Marlon scoring, we definitely need to share the load in the scoring,'' said Paynter. "Too many times we've only had one person scoring the majority of the goals.

"When you have a team that is a threat all around the field then they become a threat as a unit and not just one person.

"My goal this season was to change the attitude of the team towards the game, to be more committed, but I basically want to qualify for Martonmere. That is my main goal.

"Any trophy that is there to be taken we're going to go for but my main priority is to qualify for the Martonmere. I'm very pleased with the progress the team has made over the last three months, we have made some strides.'' Tonight's opening match in the Shield Competition sees Social Club taking on Second Division leaders Southampton Rangers who have their sights on the promotion and Shield double.