High-flying Somerset Eagles clinched the First Division championship yesterday without having to kick a ball.

The White Hill club were handed the title on a platter with two games to spare when nearest rivals St.David's knocked off neighbours St.George's Colts 2-0 at Wellington Oval.

Kenny Thompson, the Eagles coach, praised his players for achieving their primary objective this season.

"Who would have thought we would win the league with two games to spare on a day I am home doing spring cleaning," he said. "The guys really deserved the title because they have put in a lot of quality work and the commitment has been fantastic.

"The senior players have been very responsible while the younger players have been very enthusiastic and it has just been a good mixture. Overall I think we more than deserved the title given the consistency the team has shown over the entire season.

"We had some disappointments in the cups (Shield and Dudley Eve) but our focus has always been on the league and everyone didn't allow those disappointments to take the focus away from our major objective which was promotion."

Thompson dedicated his team's league title to 'keeper Gabriel Wilkinson who is making a steady recovery from serious head injury in a US hospital.

Wilkinson had to be flown abroad to seek treatment after being involved in a horrific collision during Eagles' October 2008 home league clash with Ireland Rangers.

"We are very pleased to hear of the continued progress of Gabriel. He has been on our minds the entire season and not a match goes by without someone mentioning about the spirit of Gabriel.

"We are very pleased to hear that he has made a tremendous recovery and is on the way back. And I'm sure once he gets this good news it will help lift his spirit even more."

Former national coach Thompson is confident his team can hold their own in the top tier next season.

"I do feel we will need to strengthen one or two areas. But there will certainly not be any wholesale changes because it's important to give the players who have worked so hard to get us there (Premier Division) the opportunity to play," he said.

"We have a lot of quality, young players who deserve a chance and with the experience of the senior players I think we can be very competitive next season in the Premier Division."

Eagles clinched promotion last Tuesday night at Devonshire Recreation Club after being held to a scoreless draw against Prospect United.

Meanwhile, the race for the second and final automatic promotion spot has boiled down to a two-horse race between second-placed St.David's (41 pts) and third -placed Somerset Trojans (38 pts) who have a game-in-hand over the Islanders.

The team that eventually finishes third in the First Division will play the bottom Premier Division club in a two-legged play-off to decide the tenth team in the top flight next season.