Linfield's visit to Longford, their first trip South for a competitive game in two decades, will be preceded today by talks between representatives of the two clubs over whether a minute's silence will be observed for Pope John Paul prior to kick-off.

The need for the matter to be discussed is a sign that some things still haven't changed although all the signs provided by the Setanta Cup so far have been positive, the two cross-Border matches played to date passing off without incident.

Alan Matthews has much the same squad available as played against Cork on Thursday evening although Alan Murphy joins Tom Mohan and Davy Byrne on the sidelines after sustaining what may yet be confirmed as a broken ankle in a challenge by George O'Callaghan.

The Longford boss has yet to decide on his starting line-up but Danny O'Connor could well come in for Murphy while there may be one or two other changes after three defeats in a row.

"It's fairly evident from the format of this competition you're going to have to win your home games if you want to get on so we need to win this and while there hasn't been a lot wrong so far there are a couple of thing that need to be addressed," said Matthews.

Linfield are expected to arrive with the same squad David Jeffrey had available for Tuesday's draw with Portadown.

"They're a strong side throughout," says Matthews. "But Glenn Ferguson is a really excellent centre forward while Peter Thompson has scored something like 27 goals playing alongside him and Noel Bailie is very impressive at the back. It'll be tough but if we get our act together and have even a little bit of luck I'm confident that we can get the right result."