Being relegated to the First Division could turn out to be a blessing in disguise for Somerset Eagles.

Eagles coach Marc Bean, who officially took over the helm at the beginning of the season from Gary (Tuba) Mallory, is confident his charges will take relegation in their stride, find the missing pieces to the puzzle and return to top flight football with a more positive outlook.

But the coach was quick to stress that it will take a combined effort from the club and the entire White Hill community in order to achieve their objectives.

Through a combination of not heeding past experiences and the loss of several key players, Eagles were condemned to 12.30 football next season.

But it was the loss of first-choice ?keeper Adrian Burrows, Bean believes, that hurt his team most this season.

?I think the biggest challenge for us this year was that we never had a full-time goalkeeper,? Bean told .

?We had Ian Raynor and Marcel Dill who had to share the duties in goal, but both are actually midfield players. That was the biggest downfall for us but I do give thanks for the contributions of Raynor and Dill.?

In addition to Burrows, Eagles were also without the services of Nakia Smith, Jelani (Roots) Butterfield, Sean Dill and Kieon Simmons, all of whom moved on to rival clubs.

And now that they have been relegated, Bean suspects the team?s ranks could be further depleted.

?Some players who desire to remain playing at the top level will probably move on, and they are free to do so,? said Bean. ?But we have a lot of players that didn?t have the opportunity to play this year.?

Still, Bean remains optimistic Eagles will rebound.

?I think the team will get over the emotion of losing once they have had time to reflect and realise that we haven?t put in the work required to get results,? he said.

?We reap what we sow and that?s a lesson that football and life has taught us.

?Being relegated is negative in the short term but if you were to look at PHC and Somerset (Trojans) . . . they were in the First Division last year. So this will give us an opportunity to organise ourselves and start putting more effort into long-term development, and that?s what we?ve been lacking at the club.?