Devonshire Cougars 0 Somerset Trojans 6

It was too little, too late for the once-mighty Trojans.

At Devonshire Rec. yesterday the west enders did what they had to in defeating title-chasing Cougars, but their six goals were still not enough to prevent them from dropping through the Premier Division trapdoor.

At the end, it was a game that would have left neither side happy.

Cougars entered the day with a slim chance of winning the title, although they needed to overcome a five goal deficit to first place North Village and hope their rivals lost, while Somerset had to win and hope results elsewhere went their way.

"What can we say, it was still a great season for us although we lost today. We still finished second in the table," said Cougars' injured skipper and assistant coach Shawn Smith.

"We were competitive in the first half but the Trojans were struggling for survival and went all out for it. It's always a hard feat to score as many goals as we needed to to win the title, but when it wasn't going good for us we should have dug deeper and we didn't.

"However, under the circumstances, with all of the injuries we had we did the best we could with our replacements against opponents who were better on the day."

Somerset showed style on the day of their demise but despite their efforts coach Mark Trott was left expressing his sorrow for both his players and the Somerset community.

"It's a bitter sweet moment," he said. "To finish with a bang and then to sit back and wait for other team's results was tough. But our players were brilliant today, actually they have been brilliant the last four matches.

"It's unfortunate that we have been relegated but they showed a lot of pride and character today. Next season there are some promising youngsters we want to get involved. The talent is there but we will have to sit down and evaluate the entire season."

Forced to battle on a wet, muddy pitch the Trojans mastered the elements at Devonshire Rec. much better than the home team and never once played second fiddle to Cougars.

Somerset seized the initiative early and never allowed their opponents into the game, taking a 2-0 lead at the interval and adding four more goals in the second half.

One can understand why Cougars' coach Albert Smith sat shell-shocked when it was over because his team never gave any indication that they were title contenders.

The Trojans struck early, albeit via a soft goal. It came after just four minutes when burly goalkeeper Tori Henry's attempted clearance struck Trojans' striker Dwight Basden in the back and rolled into the goal to the astonishment of all present.

A minute later Trojans' right winger Rohaan Simons came close to making it 2-0, but his soft side-footer from a Marvin Belboda cross struck the upright.

Cougars' decision to use top goalscorer Raymond Beach in midfield behind front men Heys Wolfe and Mark Smith appeared to backfire with the team clearly lacking any rhythm going forward and posing little problem for a sound Trojans defence.

Rohaan Simons created the goal that gave the visitors a 2-0 lead after 25 minutes when he dazzled the defence by dribbling past two players and crossing for the hard-working Belboda to tap in from close range.

The Trojans maintained tight control of play until Cougars finally came up with their first assault on goal after 37 minutes when Mark Smith's fierce drive from 18 yards was tipped over by Timmy Figuerido.

Cougars played with purpose when play restarted with Beach's thunderbolt shot from 22 yards sensationally tipped over by Figuerido after 49 minutes.

However, it was not a sign of things to come.

After 58 minutes Belboda provided a cross for Tori Davis to head home to give the Trojans a commanding 3-0 lead and the result was finally put out of reach of the home team four minutes later when Simons got the fourth.

With Wolfe having limped off the field injured after 57 minutes and Cougars accomplishing little in the way of attacks there was no hope of them fighting themselves into the game.

Substitute Yusef Pitt forced Figuerido to make a diving save after 67 minutes but the Trojans were now in full flow and not about to lose their grip.

Substitute Damon Ming finished the game off in style, scoring their fifth after 85 minutes and the sixth a minute from the end.

Devonshire Cougars: T.Henry; S.Coddington, O.Butterfield (W.Swan, 52 mins), D.Eve, D.Bean; K.Steede, K.Goddard, R.Beach; L.Tota, M.Smith, H.Wolfe (Y.Pitt, 57 mins). Subs not used: M.Steede, L.Richardson.

Somerset Trojans: T.Figuerido; T.Davis, D.Francis, R.Scott, G.Ray, S.Riley;

K.Roberts, D.Lawler; R.Simons (C.Grant, 68 mins), Dw.Basden, M.Belboda (D.Stovell, 63 mins). Subs not used: D.Rahman, R.Jones.

Booked: R.Beach, K.Goddard (Cougars); D.Francis, M.Belboda, D.Lawler (Trojans).

Men of the match: M.Belboda (Trojans); R.Beach (Cougars).

Referee: Anthony Mouchette.