It was not to long ago that Devonshire Colts and the term bridesmaid went hand in hand.

Always at the ball, but never able to emerge with much more than a tattered slipper.

Those days now appear as ancient history, and it is with high expectations of players and fans alike that the club enter the 2000-01 campaign.

Once dubbed the `Halloween Kids' for their orange and black jersey colour scheme, the past two years have seen them add substance to style, creating havoc among opponents based on tenacious play rather than costumed appearance.

Want proof? Just take a peak in the trophy cabinet, where can be found a veritable cache of silverware, counting the Dudley Eve and Friendship trophies, along with FA Cup runners-up medals. And they only recently relinquished the Charity Cup which they also won in 1999.

Yet, past championships only breed higher expectations and Colts' captain Shannon Burgess is well aware of the challenges that await this time around.

"It's definitely going to be a challenge to try and match last season,'' said Burgess, who also skippered Bermuda through the ill-fated World Cup campaign.

"After four years of winning trophies obviously the pressure's on to win at least one or two this year.

"It's going to be very competitive with eight teams in the (Premier) Division. It's going to make the league campaign much more difficult and then you have other teams like North Village who now have had a taste of silverware that are going to be hungry for more and looking to stake their claims.

"PHC will probably want to prove the critics wrong. People are saying that it was a fluke that they won the league, something I can't see, because they played pretty consistent ball all season.

"So, overall it's going to be a lot tougher this year.'' Colts bade farewell to goalkeeper Troy Hall, who Burgess said will be a major loss. However several additions have been made to the squad, with the likes of Jermaine Belboda, Keenan Burchall, Vic Ball, Dean Smith and Cymande Davis all returning following periods of absence.

The key will be getting the newly acquired talent to gel with the standing nucleus under the system being established by new head coach Ray Jones, who takes over the reins from David Furbert.

"On any given day we can compete with the best teams, I think we've proven that when it comes down,'' added Burgess. "Our problem has been consistency, and in order to win the league or consistently win trophies you have to play at a level game in and game out and not play off your last game.

"I think at times we've shown ourselves to be mature enough to gel and play as a team, while other times we've been shown to be a young team which forgets what it needs to do to win.'' Burgess admitted that goalscoring has been a problem, even though they've always been able to create opportunities to score.

And even with Aljame Zuill finishing as the top goalscorer in the top flight, the matter of putting balls in the back of the net remained an Achilles heel.

"It's good that we're able to create a lot of chances, but we must take more of them or it could come back to haunt us,'' continued Burgess. "Aljame led the scoring charts last year, but he'll be the first one to admit his strike rate wasn't what he would want it to be when you compare the chances made to those taken.

"Also Marvin's (Belboda) starting to play a lot better now that he's concentrating on getting fit, so he'll probably be a lot more consistent this year.'' Saturday night presents the first test for Burgess and his troop, with North Village standing in the way as the Martonmere Cup competition gets underway.

FAST FACTS 1999-2000 league: Fourth Cup competitions: Charity Cup (champions), Dudley Eve (champions), Friendship Trophy (champions), FA Cup (runners-up) Key additions: Jermaine Belboda, Keenan Burchall, Vic Ball, Cymande Davis, Dean Smith Key departures: Troy Hall, Jerome Laws, Derek Wright Coach: Ray Jones Home ground: White Hill Field Aljame Zuill: Colts' top scorer