but they still realise their Dudley Eve Cup clash at Wellington Oval will present a major challenge if a lack of consistency continues to haunt them.

Sunday's opening match features the winners of Wednesday night's Dudley Eve double-header at Devonshire Rec. while the second game sees the two losers, North Village and PHC (2.30 p.m.), in a do-or-die battle.

Colts have had to fight inconsistency all season and it was even present against PHC on Wednesday in a game in which they took a decisive edge during the early stages but allowed the Zebras to hit back before running out 2-1 winners.

Now skipper Shannon Burgess is concerned that Vasco will not be so generous should that trend continue.

Missed chances by Aljame Zuill prevented Colts from taking a commanding 3-0 lead during the first 20 minutes against PHC and instead of finishing comfortable winners they were forced to sweat out a narrow victory.

Going into the game against Vasco, Burgess is anxious to remind players the importance of finishing the job when they have a team on the ropes.

"When we are on top of things we need to do better with the chances that we create,'' said Burgess. "We allowed PHC back into the game with those missed chances. PHC are the type of team that get one chance and put it away and that's what happened. They levelled the score and all of a sudden we had our backs against the wall.

"To be honest, Vasco are pretty much the same. It's probably going to be a hard game, they have a few guys back from injury and are gong to be tough, there's no doubt about it.

"From defence to attack we have to lift our performance, make certain that everybody sharpens up and gives a total effort right through to the end.

"We've proved that we can play at a high level, but maintaining that level has been the problem. The players stepped up their performance early against PHC, lost it for the remainder of the half but fortunately were able to raise it again for most of the second half. Now we have aim to strive to hold on to the initiative right through to the end.'' Vasco's speedy attack could be imposing to an unsettled Colts' defence, particularly after Wednesday's confidence-boosting 3-1 triumph over Village which saw a hat-trick from Keith Jennings.

The second game between old rivals PHC and Village has the makings of an equally thrilling contest with both sides determined to bounce back.

Defending champions Village could be strengthened by the return of national squad goalkeeper Dwayne (Streaker) Adams.

And they could be further reinforced in defence by the expected return of stalwarts Kimande Binns and Michael Hansey.

PHC, too, are expected to be boosted by the return of their ace striker Stephen Astwood who missed Wednesday's battle against Colts while serving a one-game ban.