The GH Corlett Woods Cup swings into life this weekend with five preliminary round matches taking place on Saturday afternoon.
The pick of the day’s games in the annual Division Two competition is arguably at the Nivison Stadium where Onchan host promotion hopefuls Ayre United.
The visitors will probably go into the contest as favourites to progress as they are three places and eight points better off in the league table.
However, the Os thrashed the Tangerines 4-0 in Andreas earlier in the season thanks to goals from Lee Astin, Mark Burman, Mark Rees and Niall Stoddart so Tristan Ringham’s men are definitely capable of pulling off a result.
An interesting tie could unfold at Springfield Road where high-flying Marown are the visitors to Douglas Athletic.
The hosts have been one of the surprise packages so far this season and could yet find themselves in the top four in May, but they will need to be at their best if they are to get anything from a Marown side just two points off the promotion places in the league.
Gymns produced a heroic effort against Premier League title challengers St Mary’s in the FA Cup last weekend before eventually going down 1-0, but they should bounce back to winning ways this Saturday when they travel south to take on Ronaldsway.
The Tromode side smashed eight past the Rockets in their league meeting in October so this should be a routine victory for the visitors.
Their nearest rivals to the second division crown are Douglas Royal who welcome Foxdale to Ballafletcher in one the day’s final two Woods Cup fixtures, along with resurgent Pulrose who journey south to take on Malew at Clagh Vane.
Dave Norton