WHEN Graeme Souness cancelled Newcastle United's Christmas party last month, it was widely interpreted as an attempt to keep some of his more wayward stars on a tight rein.

Yeading boss Johnson Hippolyte also likes to know exactly what his players are getting up to on a night out - but only because he wants to be out partying with them.

Hippolyte, who is commonly known as Drax because of his Dracula-like grin, will lock horns with Souness tomorrow after guiding his team of part-timers to the third round of the FA Cup.

And, win lose or draw at Loftus Road, the 40-year-old will be leading the celebrations at Yeading's 'Warren Suite' after the final whistle.

Souness might have banned boozy drinking sessions as soon as he arrived on Tyneside but, for his Yeading counterpart, the bar-room banter is part of a moulding a successful non-league side.

"Every opportunity we get we try to go out," said Hippolyte, who played in both of Yeading's previous FA Cup appearances in the 1990s. "Obviously not too close to a game, but I like to keep them together.

"I have said to the boys that we are out whatever happens on Sunday. We will go back to Yeading and have a few drinks and then one of our ex-players has got a bar off Oxford Street so we will be going there and having a good drink.

"I'm a great believer in team bonding. I train with the lads most weeks and I party with them. I genuinely love them - they're good boys."

They can also play a bit - as underlined by a run of eight successive wins that have elevated Yeading to the top of the Ryman Premier Division.

While Souness has already splashed out £9.2m this month in an attempt to address his side's defensive shortcomings, Yeading have not conceded a goal in more than 450 minutes of football.

Hippolyte has watched Newcastle twice since the draw was made - in the 1-1 draw with Sporting Lisbon and the 1-0 defeat to Arsenal - and, while his side start as 16-1 outsiders, the Yeading boss has spotted chinks in United's armour.

And he reckons in central defender Titus Bramble the Geordies have the game's weakest link.

''No disrespect to him,'' said Hippolyte, ''but the boy's having a nightmare. He's got the Press and supporters on his back and he's playing nervously at the moment.

''I watched him twice and he's not having the best of times.''

He added: "DJ Campbell's quick, skilful and if he gets the ball in the right areas he can hurt them.

"The same as a our three midfield players. They are physically stronger than (Kieron) Dyer, (Jermaine) Jenas and (Lee) Bowyer, but it is whether we can get high enough up the pitch to hurt them."

With the two clubs separated by 123 league places, it is impossible to predict anything other than a resounding Newcastle win.

But the minnows know that their illustrious opponents will start to fret if they can keep them in a game for long enough.

"Realistically I'm hoping for a draw," said Hippolyte. "But the first thought in my mind is for us not to get embarrassed."

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