<Bz11c"deep">A<c$>FTER a gruelling four matches in 10 days over the holidays,
Brown went that route five years when, after Wolves pulled off a major upset by winning the Dudley Eve, he gave his players a week off as a reward. The club paid the ultimate price when they were relegated at the end of that same season, taking the trophy with them into the First Division where they have remained ever since.
So instead of taking the rest of this week off, the Trojans, just days after their first trophy in 12 years, were back in training last night to prepare for the second half of the season which begins next weekend. There is still much to play for and Brown doesn’t want to relive that Wolves experience with the Trojans.
“They got relegated that same year and that was one of the things I learned from,” Brown recalls of Wolves’ up and down season of 2001/02. “At that time I gave the team a week off but Somerset will be right back in training on Thursday evening.”
The victory put Brown in a unique position of having won the Dudley Eve as a player (with Somerset in 1992-93 when they beat PHC 3-1 on aggregate over two finals) and then with two different teams as a coach — something never achieved before.
“I wasn’t even thinking of any record — what I constantly told the players was that it has been too long for Somerset to be in the trophy wilderness,” said Brown. ‘We really showed the hunger and desire on that day.”
The margin of Somerset’s win — 3-0 — was somewhat surprising as Cougars, the favourites and defending champions, were outplayed on the ground where they recently won the Martonmere Cup.
“Our turning point was after the Boulevard match on the Friday night when I gave them a good old-fashioned tongue-lashing and told them exactly how I felt,” Brown revealed.
“I told them that every player had to look within himself and decide exactly what they wanted to do in this tournament, whether to lay down or come back fighting. After the training on Christmas Day they really responded.”
Brown played for Somerset at a time when the Trojans had a habit of winning trophies — hence the nickname ‘Silver City’. But the parish hasn’t had much to shout about over the last decade or so. “It goes beyond personal talent, you have to combine that with hard work,” the former central defender insists.
“Talent alone is not going to do it. We were always talented, and the team today is probably more talented than the teams I played in but the teams I played in had more heart and more guts. That makes a big difference.”
Somerset are second in the league but have six points separating them from leaders Boulevard.
“I don’t like to say we’re going to win anything but we’re going to try our best to compete for everything that’s out there,” said Brown when asked about the team’s ambitions for the rest of the season.
“The league is our priority and the first three matches are very important. We have Paget, Cougars and Boulevard and we’re can’t look beyond Paget. It’s going to be very interesting in the second half because Boulevard play Cougars in their first match.
As fate would have it both Wolves and Somerset clinched victories on Monday at Wellington Oval, having lost their opening matches on December 23 at Somerset when Wolves went down to Ireland Rangers and Somerset lost to Boulevard which put them in the losers’ bracket.
Both teams had to survive two must-win matches in the double elimination tournament, while Wolves had to pull out all the stops to beat Devonshire Colts in the First Division final, trailing 1-0, 2-1 and 3-1 before two late goals took the match into penalties. It was their second straight First Division Dudley Eve title win at Wellington Oval, winning at the same ground where they thrashed PHC 4-0 in the second final for a 7-1 aggregate win in 2002. They will be hoping the win enables them to turn an important corner and gives them a boost in the promotion race.
“I’m very, very pleased for them,” said Brown who coached Wolves for four years. “One thing I told the Wolves spectators last Thursday night at Devonshire Rec. is that it would be fitting to see Wolves and Somerset in the final and for both teams to win.
“I’ll always have a soft spot for them, they treated me well.”
[bul] While the Premier Division teams have this weekend off, First Division side resume their league campaign on Sunday with a full slate of matches. The top two, leaders Ireland Rangers and Devonshire Colts, are away to the bottom teams Social Club and Hamilton Parish. Wolves entertain X-Roads at Devonshire Rec. while Southampton Rangers host St. George’s at Southampton Oval. Prospect and Somerset Eagles meet in the other match at Police Field. All matches start at 3.00.
Somerset finally grab some silver!
