STALWART Rob Heeley is keeping his fingers crossed that Upton can create history by reaching the RFU Midlands Senior Vase final for the first time.

Upton host Leicestershire outfit Vipers at Old Street tomorrow (2pm) and are just three wins away from making it to a maiden showpiece final at Twickenham.

The Old Street side have lost three times in the area semi-finals and Heeley is determined to halt the heartbreak against the Midlands Three East (South) high-fliers.

Upton will be without talisman Chris O’Neil due to family commitments but Heeley says Dan Keyte is poised to take over the kicking duties.

Fly-half Ollie Cooke and Nathan Tomkins should return and Harry Stokes, who has been on holiday, could also be in the reckoning.

“If we can win three more games, then we will be at Twickenham but that is still a long way off and we are not thinking about it yet,” said Heeley.

“We have never played Vipers but they are in the same league as Rugby St Andrews who we defeated in the last round.

“Ironically, Vipers played St Andrews at home last Saturday and lost 16-15. They only drew with them in the away fixture earlier in the season.

“They play at the same level as us in the league system but the results might suggest the standard in their division is slightly lower than ours.”

Upton recorded a fine 19-17 win at St Andrews in the last eight and Heeley believes Vipers will pose a big test.

They boast a strong home record and are second in Midlands Three East (South).

But Vipers have lost three, won two and drawn one of their six away league fixtures this term.

Heeley says Upton must learn from their mistakes in last Saturday’s 10-7 derby defeat to Ledbury, which left them languishing in the Midlands Three West (South) bottom two.

Heeley added: “We know it will be a hard game against Vipers and I am looking at it as a 50-50 chance for us. We will give it our best shot.

“Our backs have not been firing recently and our coach said we did not deserve to win against Ledbury. I think he was right.

“We played poorly and, had we played anywhere close to a decent level, we would have won the game.

“We reached this round about four years ago and we also got to this stage in 1994 and 1998.

“We have never been to the area final so it would be nice to make it fourth time lucky.”