Devonshire Colts coach Ray Jones raised a few eyebrows in Sunday’s Shield Final against Southampton Rangers by leaving out some of his more experienced players in favour of youngsters.

And the bold move nearly backfired as Shawn Williams’ second-half strike sent the final into extra-time, forcing Jones to play his trump card in the form of seasoned striker Aljame Zuill.

“If things didn’t go our way I always knew I had some aces in the hole who have been here before and are capable of getting the job done,” explained the coach, who left Bermuda yesterday for the Dallas Cup youth tournament in the US.

“We had a lot of experience on the bench and so I knew that if things didn’t go our way I could turn to them.”

Veteran striker Zuill jumped off the bench and turned the match on its head with two goals as Colts waltzed to a 5-2 victory.

Asked why, with so much at stake, he didn’t start with the likes of Zuill, Jones replied: “We pretty much had our youngsters out there because we are trying to prepare them for the future.

“Throughout the season we have had to do without some of our seasoned players and the youngsters have had to step up. So we wanted to give them that exposure because we are trying to build for the future.”

It’s a future that perhaps promises much for the resurgent Colts.

Having now secured the coveted First Division and Shield double, Colts can focus on winning a first FA Cup in six years, a feat that would also see them clinch an unprecedented treble.

To date no First Division club has lifted the FA Cup although Colts came awfully close in 1988 with Jones back then a member of David Furbert’s team who forced the mighty Somerset Trojans to a replay in the final.

“Basically we’ve been talking about this (winning the FA Cup) all season and it would be nice to try and go a step further and win it as well,” Jones added.

“Winning the Shield was another piece to the puzzle and now we are going to prepare ourselves for St.George’s (FA semi- final) to see if we can put ourselves in a position to actually win it.”

Colts lock horns with the East Enders at Somerset Cricket Club on April 15, a match team stalwart Shannon Burgess is cautiously optimistic his team can win.

“St.George’s just had a good victory over North Village and so we will probably go into that match as underdogs. But the talent is there and I think we can probably match any team pound-for-pound,” Burgess said.

“If we can defend well as a unit I know we can give St.George’s a good go. Obviously we have some work to do, but the spirit and camaraderie is high in the team — and that is something I saw in 1988 as a youngster when Colts took Somerset to a replay.”