LONGTON begin their defence of the Staffs Cup against the team they beat in last year's final – Stoke.

The old foes clash under lights at Trentham Fields (3pm) with Longton expecting a close encounter.

Player-coach Paul Green, who faces a late fitness test, said: "They are normally close, keenly-contested games and I would expect nothing different.

"Stoke are on a good run and have won tight games in the closing stages and I am sure their contingent of ex-Longton players are looking forward to doing well against their old club.

"Stoke are on a roll and deserve a lot of credit for what they have done, but this is a game we can win."

Longton have been hard hit by unavailability and sent a re-hashed side out against Midlands One leaders Luctonians last Saturday.

Longton went down 34-6, but Green said: "We competed well and they knew they had been in a hard game.

"It was a good team perform-ance considering we had so many players missing.

"We can afford to be without one or two, but not the sort of numbers we are missing at the moment."

Longton will finalise their squad of 22 – the competition allows seven replacements – after training tonight.

Stoke have won seven games on the bounce in climbing to second place in Midlands Two West.

Skipper Phil McPherson said: "Confidence is fairly high, but we go into the Longton game as underdogs.

"They are from the league above, but we will play to enjoy it and hope we get a decent result.

"The pressure is on Longton, but we are looking forward to the challenge and it will be interesting to see how far we have progressed."

McPherson returns after missing last week's impressive home win against Solihull and James Cordall is back in the squad.