1998 has been a very good year for Devonshire Cougars -- and it could get even better.

Fighting off relegation for the first two thirds of the season, Cougars suddenly find themselves riding a four-game win streak, with the biggest prize of all now only two games away.

Yesterday's quarter-final victory over Rangers at Southampton Oval, moved them into the FA Cup semi-finals next month. Just as important, it continued the resurgence of a once comatose team who had picked up exactly two points -- and had been outscored 27-7 -- in eight league matches before Christmas.

Ironically, one of the matches was a 7-1 thrashing at the hands of these same Rangers. But it is a little known fact in the animal kingdom that Cougars, much like elephants, rarely forget.

"Revenge is sweet,'' said Cougars skipper Shawn Smith, straining to be heard above the din outside his team's dressing room. "We had to show them that that was a fluke.'' Smith acknowledged there was plenty of talk of that match among players leading up to yesterday's contest but it was only "part'' of the incentive.

"Staying in the First Division is our main focus,'' he said, "but the FA would definitely be a bonus.'' What's been the difference? Smith pointed to several factors, including overcoming internal turmoil (marked by the resignation of coach Josef Gooden), improved fitness, the addition of depth off the bench, and, simply, "gelling'' as a team.

The turnaround started immediately into the new year, with back-to-back wins over fellow strugglers PHC and Somerset. Following a pair of tough losses to the league's elite, Cougars have now responded with three straight shutouts for goalkeeper Tory Henry.

Without a big scorer to fall back on, Cougars have had to do it with defence.

Yesterday was no exception, as they threw a blanket over the one-two punch of Rohaan Simons and Janeiro Tucker. Simons, the league's leading scorer, was practically invisible, while Tucker, playing centre forward, had two golden opportunities in the first half that could have turned the game around.

But Cougars gave as good as they got, and then some. Preying on a suspect Rangers defence, their counter punching forced 'keeper Randy Darrell into two impossible saves in the first half.

Cougars finally caught the defence napping, when Aljame Zuill and Galvin Butterfield broke in on a two-on-one 17 minutes into the second half. Zuill dished off to Butterfield, whose six-yard shot was stopped by Darrell. But the rebound went to Zuill, who slammed the ball into the deserted goal.

"Their front six players are very fast and skilfull,'' Smith said of Rangers.

"Our game plan was to keep them under pressure; make them defend instead of letting them come at us.'' The close quarters finally got to a frustrated Tucker, who earned himself a yellow card for booting the game ball onto South Road late in the game.

Rangers had one final chance for the equaliser in injury time, but Henry leaped high and to his left to tip away substitute Michael Scott's header from a Ryan Belboda's cross.

Rangers: R.Darrell, R.Belboda, P.Brangman, E.Pitt (A.Tucker, 78 mins), J.Tucker, O.Jones, S.Ming, J.Raynor, C.Simons, C.Darrell (M.Scott, 73 mins), R.Simons.

Cougars: T.Henry, S.Smith, K.Swan, J.Thomas, M.Dill, G.Dyer, D.Trott (S.Goater, 70 mins), S.Coddington, G.Butterfield, A.Zuill, P.Clarke (M.Smith, 55 mins).

Referee: Cal Simons.

Men of the match: Corey Simons (Rangers); Aljame Zuill (Cougars) Dev Colts 1 Dandy Town 0 Skipper Shannon Burgess knocked the heart out of Dandy Town with the game's only goal after 21 minutes of this FA Cup quarter-final at White Hill Field.

When a clearance from a free kick fell into the path of Vic Ball Jr, the hard-working Colts' midfielder quickly lobbed it to Burgess who fired home from an angle on the right.

The goal gave Colts a deserved lead after they had dominated the early play -- and they were able to cling onto it until the end as Town struggled to create scoring opportunities.

Skipper Burgess said the quick one-two exchange betweem he and Ball was something that had been practised in training, and it worked to their advantage.

"Yes, we've worked on that stuff a lot and it has been going quite well.

Antoine had the angle blocked well, but I happened to play the ball perfectly in order to get it home,'' said Burgess.

"We defended pretty well afterwards. Our players didn't hold onto the ball long enough in the second half and therefore with our midfield unable to dominate they were able to come at us a lot.

"The good thing is that we have a chance at two titles now. We have the harmony to do it. This result today should give us the momentum we need.'' Inspired by Mark Ray in midfield, Colts enjoyed enough domination to take a two-goal lead by the half, but Town always threatened with counter attacks with Darron Simons or Chris Anderson putting efforts wide as the defence challenged.

When play re-started Tito Smith fired a shot just wide of the post for Colts, but it wasn't long before Town took the intiative and pinned down their opponents for the majority of the half. But time and again their attack looked inept with good approach work ending in the penalty area as a result of misdirected passing.

One of the best chances came after 70 minutes when Darron Simons headed a corner down into the arms of the alert Troy Hall when he should have done better.

Devonshire Colts: T.Hall; Jermal Belboda, S.Burgess, D.Wright, Jermaine Belboda; M.Ray, V.Ball, K.Lawrence (H.Trott, 77 mins); S.Waldron, T.Smith, K.Smith.

Dandy Town: A.Lightbourne; J.Marshall, D.Outerbridge, N.Paynter, D.Bailey; J.Wilkinson (D.Boyles, 55 mins), D.Ming (R.Tucker, 55 mins), H.Wolfe; P.Cann, C.Anderson (S.Tuzo, 69 mins), D.Simons.

Referee: Lyndon Raynor Men of the match: Mark Ray (Colts); Paul Cann (Town)