Confirmation that Dunedin's next Chatham Cup tie, a quarterfinal between Dunedin Technical and Bay Olympic, will be played at the Caledonian Ground on July 24 may distract participants in today's Footballsouth Premier League matches.
Also in the last eight of the Cup: Caversham travels to play Onehunga Sports, Napier City Rovers is at home to Manurewa, and Wairarapa plays Waitakere.
Two teams in the last eight is a credit to Dunedin club football, but coaches will be wary of taking their eyes off the ball and dreaming of future silverware.
To many pundits, the true test of consistent success is still the hard grind of a whole season's unrelenting effort towards the Footballsouth title and the South Island championship.
Technical still leads the FPL by a country mile, or more accurately seven competition points, which is a comfortable cushion with just six games to go.
Today at Ocean Grove, Grants Braes has an uphill battle with Technical and faces the distinct possibility of slipping to the bottom spot if fellow cellar dweller Green Island continues its resurgent form in its game against Spirit FC.
Technical has lost a few players: Brendon Gorman has returned to the United States, Alistair Rickerby is still injured and George Milne is unavailable.
But coach Mike Fridge has swiftly resurrected Blair Scoullar, whose great experience will be invaluable, and several youngsters, such as Sam Enright and Brad Rodden, have been added to Technical's squad.
Braes coach Allan Laidler has lesser player resources but his team is capable of physical resistance and centreback Joh Mpondo is hard tocontain at set plays.
Caversham faces a more realistic test against University, at what now appears to be the Scarfies' home ground at the Caledonian.
Despite quality attacking play by Caversham last week that netted six goals in the Cup, Varsity coach Luke Macris is likely to stress that Caversham conceded four goals, despite facing only 10 opponents for much of the game.
Caversham and University are similar in many ways, and if they hit top form and retain their gung ho attitude, spectators should be in for an attacking treat.
Northern hosts Roslyn-Wakari at Forrester Park, which will please those who have been unhappy with the surface at the Gardens.
After two consecutive losses, Mosgiel, which looked a contender for honours, is on the cusp of slipping further down the FPL and needs a convincing performance today against Queenstown at Memorial Park.
Two wins on the trot by bottom side Green Island suggests it can more than compete with Spirit FC at Sunnyvale, especially if inspirational Spirit player-coach Barry Gardiner is still injured.
