Ireland Rangers endured a bitter-sweet night of football last Thursday at Somerset Cricket Club.

Rangers stunned the local football fraternity with a shock victory over PHC Zebras that best summed up the latter?s disappointing season.

But any post-match celebrations in the dressing room afterwards was quickly replaced by despair as Boulevard?s upset win over Devonshire Cougars hammered the final nail in Rangers? relegation coffin.

Yet Rangers coach Duane (Box) DeRosa reckons his charges ? unbeaten in their previous three outings ? still have much to play for as the season draws to a close.

?We are still in the FA Cup and have a say in who wins the league. And we?ve already discussed this and we know Somerset are banking on us to defeat North Village,? he said.

Rangers are away to Premier Division leaders Village on February 26 in a potential league championship decider.

A Reds victory would give first -year coach Dwayne Adams a first league title, the club?s third in five seasons. However, Somerset Trojans are relying on Rangers to pull off another upset and defeat Village to set the stage for a championship deciding fixture between Village and Trojans at Bernard Park on March 5.

Village, though, need only take a point off Rangers in their next league match. And even should Rangers manage a draw against the Reds, Village can still afford to lose against Trojans and clinch what would be a seventh championship overall given their superior goal-difference of plus-27. Trojans would have to defeat Village by 17 clear goals and hope their defence can put up the shutters against the Island?s most potent offence.

?If we can pull off a victory against North Village then it will all boil down to Somerset and Village in the last match of the season that will determine the league champions,? DeRosa added. ?So we still have some work to do and we will be training this week even though we?re off.?

Rangers, meanwhile, defeated First Division Somerset Eagles on Sunday to advance to the FA Cup quarter-finals.

?That (FA Cup) is still something we can shoot for as well as our two final league matches,? DeRosa said. ?Our confidence is up from the previous two matches and the guys are pumped up and feel they can compete with some of the more so-called established clubs.?

Rangers close their league campaign against Devonshire Colts at Malabar on March 5.

Having accepted their fate, DeRosa and his charges are already looking ahead to next season where they hope to apply lessons learned from the current campaign.

?We are already expecting to have more players available, players who missed this season through injury,? DeRosa said. ?And I believe we will be even stronger next season as well as deeper which will create more competition for places and also improve those players who are not up to par. So next season we should be raring to go.?

DeRosa, also club president of Ireland Rangers, took over the helm from former Trojans striker Stevie Riley just prior to the Christmas break after the latter resigned.

And DeRosa, himself a former Trojans and Southampton Rangers full back, has developed a tremendous liking for the post.

?This is my stint ever coaching and I am thoroughly enjoying it,? he said. ?I know the guys quite well having played with some of them. And I would like to continue on coaching because there has been a turnaround at the club since I took over. But I can?t take the credit for everything because the players themselves are the ones that produce the results. I?m just the one who prepares them before they go onto the field.?

So what were some of the lessons learned this past season?

?I believe the mentality of the individual has improved and they do realise now that they can compete,? DeRosa said. ?It?s unfortunate this didn?t occur earlier in the season but they understand this now and what it all basically boiled down to was their commitment to training and also to matches.

?It?s unfortunate we got relegated but the guys always knew it was going to be a difficult challenge trying to stay up. So we don?t have any bad vibes or feelings. We still have some work to do and it?s now just a matter of us applying ourselves a little more.?