Lionel Furbert was in tears when he scored the goal that helped his side to their meaningless victory over North Village yesterday and the Town skipper was blubbering again at the end once it was clear the title was going elsewhere.

Furbert?s Hornets swansong didn?t produce a happy ending despite a comfortable 2-0 victory against a team clearly thinking about April 10 and the FA Cup final.

After last week?s crucial defeat to Boulevard, an injury-time penalty at White Hill Field for Cougars was the difference between title victory and defeat for Town, making it all the harder for Furbert to take.

?It was hard, a hard way to go down,? said Furbert, who volleyed the opening goal after 22 minutes in his final game for Town.

?We were getting updates. We knew it was 1-1 at half-time and we knew when it was 2-2, all we could do was win our game and hope for the best but they got a last-minute penalty ? the worst way to end it for us.

?These guys have another year to try again and we have learnt a lot from this season. To lead from day one and then go down like we did last week is tough.

?You have to keep going the entire season and I guess we didn?t do that this year. Last week we played but just couldn?t score, it is a sad end to the season for us.?

As well as giving Furbert the send-off he wanted, a victory would have been the perfect way to mark Randy Swan?s footballing contribution this season.

Tributes to the player, who died in a car crash in December, still adorned the vests of many of his team-mates but they just couldn?t get the victory they wanted for ?Soldier?.

Another player who may not appear for Town again is Khano Smith, whose possible farewell performance before a move to New England Revolution did not include a goal, but pretty much everything else.

Smith, who scored on trial in Ecuador with the Major League Soccer side, showed yesterday at St. John?s Field exactly why the Revolution might want him, playing powerful, attacking football with strength, skill and passion.

It was not to be his day in front of goal, however, with Adrian Burrows putting on an impressive display of his own in the Village goal to persistently thwart the rangy striker.

But there was nothing Burrows could do after 22 minutes when captain Furbert opened the scoring. Village failed to clear a corner and although Sergio Goater blocked an initial shot, Furbert was on hand to volley home from 15 yards.

Quincy Paynter came closest for Village, forcing Cymande Davis to tip over a long drive, but it was mostly Town providing the attacking football.

Khano Smith was often the catalyst but it was Carlos Smith who was to score the second, a deserved goal for a player who ran tirelessly despite his advancing age.

With 20 minutes left, and Village increasingly sitting back, Davis launched a massive kick upfield and Carlos chased it down and touched the ball past Burrows before running in to smash home from a yard.

Town continued to push forward but it was becoming largely irrelevant as the victory was already secured and the fate of the championship trophy was now at the feet of the Cougars? players.

The final whistle produced little emotion from the Town players who shook hands with each other and their Village opponents with not a smile between them.

While White Hill erupted, Town held a sombre and emotional team meeting before players headed off in different directions for their summer holidays knowing a failure to beat Boulevard had cost them the title they felt they?d earned ? and Furbert wept again.: C. Davis, E. Signor, D. Zuill, M. Lowe, C. Anderson, L. Furbert, S. Tuzo, C. Smith, K. Smith J. Peniston A. Burrows, J. Thomas, K. Dill, S. Goater, Kentoine Jennings, J. Boyles, K. Dill (V. Tankard, 70 mins), Kevin Jennings (Ralph Bean Jr. 60 mins), T. Jennings, Q. Paynter (M.Crane, 70 mins).Khano Smith (Town) Adrian Burrows (Village) Lyndon Raynor