PETERSFIELD Town will be hoping their Southern League class will get them through a tough Russell Cotes Cup tie at AFC Portchester tonight (kick-off 7.45pm).

The Rams know they will have to be at the very top of their game to get past their high-flying Wessex Premier Division hosts to book their place in the semi final.

However, there are a trio of things which could conspire against the East Hampshire outfit, if this cup tie goes to past form when these two sides have met.

Portchester beat the Rams in last season’s Wessex League Cup final and Petersfield lost out to them in the previous season in the Hampshire Senior Cup at the quarter final stage.

Wicor Rec has not been a happy hunting ground for the Rams in recent seasons and they have not recorded a victory there since March 2008.

And there are plenty of former Rams players in the Portchester ranks who will be eager to show their former club what they are capable of – Ash Howes and Alex Lowley were both regulars in Petersfield’s first team squad and youngsters Alfy and Max Whittingham have also had spells at Love Lane.

Rams boss Ian Saunders believes his players have to put all of this to one side and show their quality to go through to the next round of the county competition.

He said: “I am expecting a very tough game at Portchester. They are a very good side who have ambitions to get to the same level of the non league pyramid that we are at.

“Their chairman Paul Kelly has certainly built up a club capable of that off the pitch, while their manager Graham Rix has a very good squad of players at his disposal.

“It won’t be an easy night for us at all. They will give it a right go and I am sure they will relish the opportunity of knocking a Southern League club out of the competition.

“We have to ignore all of that though – our past record there, the former players, everything else. We have to make sure we are at it and if we produce the level of performance we have shown in our last few matches I am sure we will have enough about us to get a result on the night.”