North Village are hoping to rekindle their Premier Division hopes when they face Devonshire Cougars at Bernard Park tonight (9pm).

A 2-1 defeat to Devonshire Colts at Police Field last Sunday left the champions six points behind league leaders Dandy Town and they also trail PHC and Colts by five points, with the latter having a game in hand.

Victory against Cougars can reduce that deficit to three points with Town and Colts scheduled to face each other at White Hill Field on Sunday. Calvin Dill Jr, the Village coach, is looking to go on a similar run of form to the one they found after losing the opening game of the season to Colts.

Following that defeat, the Rams went eight matches unbeaten, with four wins and the same number of draws.

“We just have to continue training hard and we’ll come back together,” Dill told The Royal Gazette.

“We lost our first game of the season against Colts and then we went on a run. The energy is always there from the players at training, that’s the joy about it.”

It has been a tough start to 2026 for Village after they lost the Friendship Trophy final on New Year’s Day and walked away empty-handed against Colts, but Dill is not pressing the panic button yet.

“It’s nothing really going wrong, it’s just us putting away our chances and defending the goals,” the Village coach said.

“Unfortunately, our goalkeeper made a mistake for Colts’s second goal on Sunday, but as a team we just have to keep picking each other up and pushing forward.

“We still believe that it can be done. Everybody has to play each other and there’s still room for mistakes on the other teams, but we just have to do what we have to do.

“We don’t have to worry about the other teams.”

Cougars are enjoying a fine run of form, which has seen them record four wins and three draws in their last seven matches. Coach Mark Mills’s side defeated relegation-threatened Boulevard Blazers 2-0 last week, which left them trailing Village by three points.

Despite the good run, Mills is still anticipating a tough assignment against Village.

“It’s a big match for us and we’re looking forward to it,” the Cougars coach said.

“It’s always a tough encounter against Village, but it should be a good game for us.”

Dill is not reading much into the Cougars run of late as the two sides drew 1-1 at Devonshire Rec in October.

“They didn’t play us, so it doesn’t really worry me as a coach that they won their last match,” the Village coach said.

“We have an idea of the players they have. We just have to match their energy and dominate the possession.”

This match is the second in a double-header at Bernard Park with Somerset Trojans facing Wolves in a First Division encounter starting at 7pm.