TAWNY Owl have their sights set on a league and cup double after they put the knife in Shield & Dagger’s hopes of lifting the Adver Cup at the weekend.

A first-half strike from Owl’s Dave Slattery was ruled out before the break by Jonathan Coole’s deflected effort for Shield at Royal Wootton Bassett Town’s Gerrard Buxton Ground.

However, after some stern words at half-time from joint managers Ajay Sahota and Giovanni De Sando, Owl turned in a much-improved display in the second half.

Paddy Slattery lobbed the Dagger’s goalkeeper from 30 yards to restore the lead before Danny Hyde completed a brace, either side of Dave Slattery’s second goal to complete the 5-1 scoreline and book their place in the final.

“The first half was quite tight and we had a bit of a heated half-time team-talk and it woke a few of our players up and we came out and showed the quality that we are capable of producing,” said Owl boss Sahota.

“Based on the second-half performance, we were by far the better side and deserved the victory.

“Our expectation is to have a cup final at the end of the season and to win the league.

“The league is looking strong, we have won every game and have five to go and we want to win every single one of them.

“It is not just me, Gio has put in a lot of hard work in along with Dave Slattery and a few others, and we are pleased with the way things have gone this season.”

Sahota’s side face Avtar, who sit a place behind Tawny Owl in the Swindon & District Premier Division table in second, in the final, a prospect that whets the appetite of the unbeaten league leaders.

“Now we have a cup final to look forward to and it is a good day out for the families, which the club is built around,” added Sahota.

“We want to be playing the best possible team and Avtar are up there at the moment, as well as Shield and Dagger.

“We are glad we had a hard game in the semi-final and showed that we are able to progress and it is about taking that confidence into the final now.

“We’ll show them a bit of respect but we expect them to fear us more than we fear them.”

Meanwhile, DJC Marlborough secured their spot in the final of the George Thomas/Don Rogers Cup with a 6-2 win over Morris Street, courtesy of a hat-trick from Valentin Rascanescu.

In Division One, Swindon Spitfires maintained their advantage at the top of the table as goals from Gideon Ogunwale, Francis Cullen and Michael Cox secured a 3-2 win away at Chiseldon.

A brace from Gareth Walton added to a strike from Carl Wheeler to ensure that second-placed Swindon Centurians kept pace with a 3-0 win, while Moredon secured a 5-0 win over bottom-of-the-league R&D United thanks to four goals from Paul Stevens.