FOR a coach who readily admits that coaching doesn't come naturally for him, Elliott Jennings hasn't done too badly in his first year at the helm of North Village's senior team.

And winning the Friendship Trophy on Sunday at the expense of Triple Crown-chasing PHC Zebras, certainly won't represent a disappointing season for Jennings or the Rams who won the Dudley Eve over Christmas and New Year and finished a close second to the Zebras in the Premier Division title race recently.

Jennings, a loyal and popular player with North Village, says the season presented many challenges and has been a learning curve for him after taking over from former teammate Dwayne (Streaker) Adams who resigned as coach before the season.

"For me the first year was a learning experience," said Jennings this week as he looked forward to another North Village trip to a cup final at the National Sports Centre.

"Maybe if I had assisted someone before I took over it probably would have been much easier. I had a lot to learn, I'm not really a vocal person. My whole personality had to change.

"I know I can handle the players one on one but when you are dealing with a whole group and trying to keep them happy you have to be a psychiatrist. I'm not at the level of Andrew Bascome or Kenny Thompson, who get into people's heads.I don't like the fuss, I try to keep everybody happy and in most situations it is hard to do it.

"We don't have a big pool of players to pick from, especially when we get injuries, so you do need everybody. The sad part about the players today is not enough players want to be leaders, many of them want to be followers."

Jennings was uncommitted on whether he will be back next year as coach. If he does return he believes he will be a much better coach for the experience. For the time being, though, he prefers to focus on the task at hand¿beating PHC for the second time in a three weeks to ensure that Village don't finish second again to one of their biggest rivals.

"The other day was a long time ago," says Jennings of the league victory over PHC on March 16 which sent the league race right down to the wire.

"We haven't had a competitive match for two weeks so hopefully we'll be alright. That could be good in one sense because we got a rest. Even though we've been training I don't know how well we've kept up the match fitness, because training and playing are too different things."

PHC coach Kyle Lightbourne admits a Village-PHC final should be a good match-up and Jennings, too, believes it should be entertaining. The recent loss to Village represented the first time this season that PHC have conceded three goals in a match. Keishen Bean scored a hat-trick that day and he and Ralph Bean Jr, along with the talented Sammy DeGraffe in midfield, have the ability to sway the match in Village's favour.

PHC, two wins away from the Triple Crown, will certainly look to end the season in style, having been guided to the league and Martonmere Cup already by Kyle Lightbourne, a strong contender for coach of the year.

"Kyle has done a great job, you can't take anything away from them," Jennings acknowledged. "Hopefully we can slow them up. I always tell my players it all depends on which day they show up. When they show up they can match anybody. Not all the time do they come prepared within themselves.

"We want to beat everybody and a final is a one-off chance. First we have to be motivated to win, not just because it's PHC. And not just to win at all cost¿in my eyes we want to win with a little style, a little flair and leave something for somebody to talk about. So that people can say it was worth coming out."

PHC last won the Friendship in 2001-02 when they beat Village 3-2 for their ninth win in the tournament. Village have won the trophy seven times, including three times in the last seven seasons. Their last success was in 2006 when they beat Dandy Town 2-1.

The day's action will begin at noon with the Commercial Knockout final between Lobster Pot and Tuff Dogs, followed at 2.00 by the Shield final between St. David's and Somerset Eagles, two teams that narrowly missed out on promotion to the Premier Division. These two teams served up an exciting final in 2001 when Eagles beat St. David's 3-2, only to lose 6-2 to Boulevard in the 2002 final.

The Friendship final will begin at 4 p.m.