Four teams with 31 Dudley Eve Trophy titles between them will do battle tonight in the semi-finals at the National Stadium.

Devonshire Cougars and Somerset Trojans will begin the action at 7pm, both looking to get the win that eluded them on Sunday in the league when the two sides played to a 2-2 stalemate at nearby Devonshire Recreation Club.

“I think our chances are good,” said Vance Brown, the Cougars coach. “We just have to come and play football, and if we do we should be successful.

“We just need to play better; we didn’t have a good game on Sunday. There’s always room for improvement. Success doesn’t come overnight; we have to keep working hard at it. Consistency is the key.”

Brown is from Somerset and is the nephew of former player and head coach Dennis Brown and the cousin of Danvers Seymour Jr, who is filling in as head coach in Brown’s absence this season.

“Football only divides us for 90 minutes,” Brown said of the family rivalry.

“Coming from Somerset, who have a tradition of winning, I know what it means to them,” Brown said.

Last year’s final produced a 5-2 win for Dandy Town over Robin Hood, the highest-scoring final since the 4-4 draw in 2010-11 between North Village and Devonshire Cougars, which was eventually decided 4-2 to Village on penalty kicks.

The competition was changed from the Martonmere Cup in 2009-10, with Village winning the first two finals over PHC and Cougars and then losing the next two, in 2011-12 and 2012-13 to Dandy Town and Somerset.

Village’s four straight finals is still one short of the five managed by Boulevard between 1993-94 and 1997-98, when they won three titles. Devonshire Colts appeared in the first three finals.

Village and holders Dandy Town, who play in the 9.00 final, have each won the cup ten times while Somerset have seven titles and Cougars four. Six of Town’s wins came when it was the Martonmere Cup while Village won it as the Martonmere Cup eight times.

The defending champions are fresh off a fourth straight win in the league while Village, who had a bye on the weekend, are also unbeaten in the league.

This year’s last four teams have reached a total of 52 Martonmere Cup/Dudley Eve Trophy finals between them, with Village reaching the final 17 times, Somerset playing in 13 finals, Town 12 and Cougars ten.

The competition started in 1972-73 as the Martonmere Cup with Devonshire Colts the first winners, beating Somerset 3-2 in the final. The only other Colts title came in 2002-03 when they beat PHC 2-1 in the final.

Tonight’s winners will meet in the 49th final on November 11.