St. David’s versus St. George’s will be likely the least fancied pairing when considerations are made by the neutral fan as to which match to attend on FA Cup quarter-final Sunday.

But, if attendance figures were to be announced come evening time, it is a strong bet that St. David’s Oval will pull in the biggest gate to witness their footballing equivalent of County Cup.

Neither side are feeling particularly good about themselves these days — St. George’s are mired in a season-long funk, in which they are bottom of an otherwise wide-open Premier Division, while St. David’s are in bad spirits after Wednesday’s 4-3 defeat to Hamilton Parish conjured memories of the last year’s Shield final defeat to Somerset Eagles when they led by two goals.

“No matter how our season would have been going, people will be ready for this game,” said Neil Paynter, the St. George’s player-coach. “St. George’s against St. David’s, it’s a derby, so I don’t have to really motivate the players to do well in this game.”

Eugene Crockwell, Paynter’s counterpart at St. David’s, is of the same opinion. “The rivalry is something that we all inherited and, no matter what, the fans will make sure that the rivalry continues,” he said.

Form-wise, the edge goes with St. David’s, who had two impressive victories before slipping up against Parish. A sign of St. George’s struggles was depicted on Tuesday when they were beaten 2-0 by a Devonshire Cougars team, who are presently at their lowest ebb.

Paynter, an honest man’s player, is convinced that St. George’s have what it takes to retain their status among the game’s elite, but no victories since a 4-1 defeat of MR Onions, the Commercial League side, in the previous round tells a damning story.

“It’s all about results now and obviously Cougars got the three points on Tuesday,” Paynter said.””But for those who really know football . . . to be honest, I think we dominated most of that game. But our problem is scoring goals and we gave up two late goals with two mistakes and they capitalised. That’s been the story of our season so far.

“Every mistake we make, teams seems to be capitalising but we’re not capitalising on their errors. So, no, we’re not going to play any differently. We just need to put the ball in the back of the net.”

St. David’s, on the evidence of Wednesday, are themselves not too far detached from mistakes. Up 3-1 against Parish with 25 minutes remaining, they conceded three penalties with the attacking player facing away from goal on each occasion.

“The penalties did us in but, otherwise, I was satisfied with our play,” said Crockwell. “I just have to reinforce the point that we have to stay focused.”

Saying it and doing it, the coach may discover are entirely different things. He possesses a young squad who have not reached this stage of the FA Cup before, let alone having to turn over cross-town rivals St. George’s to reach the last four.

When both teams were in the First Division last season, St. George’s completed the double over the Islanders, winning 4-2 at home and, more significantly, 4-3 in St. David’s.

St. David’s youngsters showed character in coming from 4-1 down in the second match to run St. George’s close and Crockwell is hoping for much of the same in front of a demanding home following.

“We just have to concentrate on the game because a lot of the players are young — 16, 17 and they don’t know much about the rivalry,” Crockwell said. “As long as they play the game, that’s all I’m concerned about.

“I will have to wait until Sunday comes and hopefully my talk before the game will eliminate any nerves. It’s going to be a very big crowd and the St. David’s fans will expect nothing less than a victory.”

To listen to Paynter, it is more like the big dog coming to town. They are dissatisfied with their position in the Premier Division, frustrated in front of goal and need a fillip before resuming league play at home to the in-form North Village.

“I don’t care how pretty it looks but I just want to win this match and hope that everything else falls in place,” Paynter said. “I’m not considering that they’re in First Division — this is the FA Cup and they’re going to come prepared. We have to be just as prepared or even more prepared than them.”

Both teams report full squads to choose from, with St. George’s recently welcoming Wayne Henry, the former Devonshire Colts midfield player, back into training while for St. David’s, Desmond Crockwell is back from suspension and Otis Minors, who took a knock during his four-goal effort on Sunday against Young Men’s Social Club, came through 15 minutes as a substitute on Wednesday and should start.