SAINTS coach Keiron Cunningham feels this year's Wembley dreams lie in his team hitting the ground running in tonight's Challenge Cup semi final with Leeds Rhinos.

And he said his side's form, with half backs Luke Walsh and Travis Burns firing, should provide huge confidence at Warrington's Halliwell Jones Stadium, kick off 8pm.

Saints have suffered heavy defeats to the table-topping Rhinos in both league meetings this year, on each occasion conceding more than 40 points after Brian McDermott's men got off to a flying start.

Cunningham is adamant on how important the early stages will be as they hunt a first Wembley appearance since 2008.

“The start is the important one, as it has been to all the teams that have played well against Leeds this year," he said.

"They’ve hung in there for 20-odd minutes and then get the chances. So the start’s the big one.

“The second occasion we played them Leeds gave us four or five chances and we kept dropping the ball.

“If anything those two games give us a warning that if you don’t start as well as you should you know what Leeds are capable of. They can score from anywhere across the field and if you want to give them the ball enough times they’re going to score enough points.

“We know that so we’ve got to be very sensible with how we manage the ball.”

Two good displays, the late victory against Warrington backed up by last Friday’s comprehensive thrashing of Hull KR, set the scene.

“We should go into the game confident of where we’re at as a team,” said Cunningham.

“I said to the players we were outstanding against Hull KR and that if we play as well as we did against them with the ball in hand then they’ll be in with a good shot.

“If we carry over anything that remotely resembles what we did on Friday night then we’ll be in with a good shout.

“Both our halves are playing outstandingly well, I’m pleased for both Luke and Travis because they’ve worked hard and come under fire a bit earlier on in the season but they’re both in a good spot at the minute."

The ex-Saints hooker, a seven-times cup winner, added: “We’re in a good spot as a team. We’ve finished second in the 23 rounds before the Super 8s and we’re in the semi of the Challenge Cup.

“But good is not quite good enough for this club. We want that greatness and to move on and win trophies and be part of big things.

“It’d be lovely to make Wembley but we’ve got this small occasion on Friday against the best side in the competition. We’ve got to deal with Friday first.”

“We’ll go through the same protocol we do every other game, nothing will be different for us, nothing at all.”

Saints will be involved in a piece of cup history with the tie being the first last-four clash to be played on a Friday.

It will also be Saints’ first appearance in the semi-final stage of the knockout competition in four years, with the club not having reached a cup final since 2008 - a major drought going by Saints’ earlier standards of the Super League era which has seen them lift the famous trophy seven times since 1996.

“As a player I was fortunate to win it seven times and I think you can take it for granted a bit,” added Cunningham, who played in Saints’ last cup final appearance against Hull seven years ago.

“It was almost a given you’d make Wembley or one of the big stadiums and lift the trophy. When you don’t go there for so long you feel almost like you should be there but the sides that have been there deserved it a lot more than you do.