The three remaining Commercial League sides in the FA Cup are all hampered by the unavailability of key players as they enter tough clashes on Sunday against formidable First Division opponents.

As a result the David v Goliath match-ups in the third round are unlikely to produce any surprise results with Robin Hood, St. George's Allstars and Belco merely claiming that they "hope to be competitive.'' The strongest of the lot, Robin Hood, who share the lead in the Commercial League A Division, take on Boulevard at Lord's while the remaining Commercial League B Division teams are St. George's Allstars and Belco.

The Allstars are at home at Wellington Oval against powerful First Division leaders Dandy Town while Belco meet North Village at St. John's field.

Robin Hood are having a great season and are undefeated with six wins and a draw in league play, but they will not be at full strength for their challenge on Sunday.

Their big and efficient sweeper Colin McQueen has had a cartilage operation and is out for a few months while a few other key players are abroad.

However McQueen remained optimistic, reckoning Robin Hood would still be able to field a decent side against Boulevard.

"We may have a few people missing on Sunday which will be unfortunate, but we are still going into the game with a bit of confidence,'' said McQueen.

"While we may not be at our best going into the game I still believe that the players give us a strong squad. We picked up a good signing in Derek Thomas and he is having a terrific season. I do believe that we will be strong enough to be competitive.'' Hood were knocked out of the competition much earlier last year but with a bit of luck McQueen feels that they still have the capability of being competitive to the very end.

St. George's Allstars coach Alan Caisey seemed less hopeful about his team's chances against Dandy Town with two regular players unavailable.

"We will definitely not be at full strength but we hope to be competitive for awhile,'' said Caisey. "I don't know if we will be able to hang in there for the entire game, but we will be trying.'' The coach hopes that if his side can get off to a good start against Town then maybe they too can cause their heavily favoured opponents to sweat it out.

"One thing that we know is that Dandy Town will not be taking us for granted,'' said the coach of his team who have a modest league record of two wins, two draws and three defeats this season.

The Allstars will be pinning their hopes on the goal-scoring abilities of Milton Jones, Charles Wade and Cal Rayner. Rayner limped off the field in their last game on Saturday but the coach is hopeful that he will be ready to torment the Town defence on Sunday.

Garrett Crockwell, spokesman for Belco, said that his team were looking forward to their battle.

"We have had a good season so far, Marlon Linsday is our top scorer and is playing well. We hope everybody supports him and plays their best on Sunday, but we are not going to say that we are going to win,'' he said.