NORTH Village would like a little help from their near neighbours Devonshire Cougars on Easter Sunday. A year ago Village were deprived of the league title when Devonshire Cougars beat them in the final match of the season. Now the Rams will be hoping the defending champions can do the same to PHC on Sunday as the Premier Division title race is finally decided, along with the relegation and promotion issues.

PHC could have wrapped up the race last weekend at Bernard Park with a draw, but Village striker Keishen Bean denied them by grabbing a hat-trick to hand the Zebras only their second defeat of the season. More importantly, the 3-1 victory enabled Village to keep their championship hopes alive going into Sunday's final match away to bottom team Ireland Rangers. Now just three points behind the leaders, Village have a good chance to turn the tables on the Zebras and pip them to the title on goal difference. That is where Cougars come in ¿ because even though they should beat Ireland Rangers, Village won't land the league title if Cougars cannot beat the Zebras. With all three clubs missing their national team players (the team is en route to the Cayman Islands for their World Cup qualifier second leg), the title race may just throw up one more surprise. Kwame Steede, captain of Cougars and Bermuda, has been the most consistent player for his club this season and his absence will be a blow for title-chasing Village who will also be without players on World Cup duty. With a much inferior goal difference to third-from-bottom Devonshire Colts, Ireland Rangers are facing a second relegation from the top division in three seasons. Their win over Boulevard last weekend at least keeps alive their hopes of finishing ahead of Somerset Trojans, though that will be a tall order as they will have to beat Village in order to achieve that. Although they are likely to finish last again in their second season in the top flight, Rangers have shown some improvement and haven't been totally out of their depth in the Premier Division. Somerset Trojans, who know a thing or two about winning major trophies, will be asked by their coach Dennis Brown to carry on where they left off against Devonshire Colts last weekend and pull off a victory against Dandy Town and do something that was unthinkable a couple of weeks ago¿avoid the drop.

The Trojans have looked doomed for most of the second half of the season, but their victory over Colts last weekend means that they are now just a point behind Colts and very much in with a chance of climbing to safety. To insure their own safety, Colts have to match Somerset's result when they close out their season away to Boulevard. A Somerset win and Colts draw will send Colts back into the First Division with Ireland Rangers.

Who will clinch the two Premier Division spots next season will finally be determined when one of the most exciting promotion races in many years reaches its conclusion. Up until a couple of weeks ago seven teams were in the hunt for the two spots, but now that has quickly been reduced to four teams.

Hamilton Parish lead the pack by a point over St. David's, but Southampton Rangers in third place have the inside the track as they are expected to be awarded the points from their game with Prospect (who refused to play).

The three points from that match would put Rangers a point clear at the top. The fourth team in the mix are Wolves who are level on 36 points with Rangers but, like Parish and St. David's (on 38 and 37 points), have one match remaining. The promotion race is likely to have one final, intriguing twist as Parish and St. David's have tough final matches. X-Roads, who held top spot briefly recently as the lead changed constantly, are probably one win short of a first promotion to the top flight but the prospect of finishing level on points with Parish should see them fighting hard against Parish at Garrison Field. And at nearby St. David's, St. George's will be just as determined to deny the Islanders three vital points. Rangers should get the points award to Young Men's Social Club to make certain of clinching one of the promotion spots, while Wolves are relying on Parish and St. David's to slip up, knowing that they have easier opponents in Prospect and with a better goal difference than Parish. In the other match, Somerset Eagles will close out their season against Paget, while BAA have already completed their first season back in the league, having failed to win a single point from their 20 games.