PHC Zebras and Somerset Trojans celebrated promotion back into the top flight over the weekend following convincing wins over St.David?s and Ireland Rangers respectively.

Heavily favoured to dominate the First Division at the start of the current league campaign, the two clubs booked passage back into the Premier Division with three matches to still to play.

Zebras currently have an unassailable 31 points and Trojans 28. Neither can now be reeled in by third-placed St.George?s who can only finish the season with a maximum of 27 points.

During PHC and Trojans? first meeting of the season last week, Zebras galloped to a 2-1 win in what was a pulsating 90 minutes of action-packed football at Devonshire Rec witnessed by probably the largest First Division crowd this season.

The two perennial rivals meet again on February 22 in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup at Somerset Cricket Club and on March 21 at Southampton Oval in a contest which could decide the First Division championship. They could also collide head-on in the Shield competition.

?The match last Thursday night certainly reminded me of the years when I was playing against PHC,? said Trojans coach Dennis Brown, reflecting on last week?s clash at the Den.

?The intensity and all-out war concept of both teams reminded me of when I used to play. My feeling was that we didn?t respond to PHC?s intensity when they equalised. They were able to lift their game and we didn?t. PHC became a bit more physical and we didn?t respond and so that was a little disappointing. They got physical and we seemed to put our tails between our legs.?

Brown returned to his former club during the off-season after a coaching stint at Wolves and in a short period has quickly turned the club?s fortunes around.

?We are back and one thing I told my players last week is that they have exceeded all of my expectations so far. They have been able to grasp the concepts which I put forward early in the season and I feel they have caught on very fast with what I wanted to implement in the programme,? he said.

The coach is also licking his lips over the prospect of winning a triple crown of a different sort, the First Division, Shield and FA Cup. Trojans won the traditional triple crown championship (Premier Division, FA Cup and Friendship Trophy) in 1967-68, 1968-69 and again in 1960-70.

However, PHC, who won the triple crown in 1970-71, also find themselves in a similar position to their rivals with every chance of pulling off an unprecedented treble.

?I don?t really want to look that far down the road. I prefer to take one game at a time and after those games assess where we are and go accordingly,? said Brown, a former Trojan captain.

Zebra coach Mark Wade concurred.

?We still have the rest of the season left to play and certain objectives that as a team we want to achieve in terms of a better understanding of the system of play. There?s still quite a bit of development we are looking at and basically that?s what this season is all about,? he said.

Wade described last week?s win over Trojans as ?satisfying?.

?I?m just happy the match lived up to expectations of the fans and we were able to put on a very good match that everybody seemed to have enjoyed,? he said. ?It?s a rivalry (Trojans/Zebras) which I tell me players goes back many years to when I was watching football during the days of George Brangman (former Trojan midfielder) and Mop Astwood (former PHC striker Marischal (Mop) Astwood). And now to meet Trojans in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup adds a little something to it (rivalry) but we try to take each game as it comes along, and we will deal with that match in two weeks? time.?