Commitment and harmony have proven to be the hallmark of PHC Zebras? rapid ascent this season.

The Zebras returned to the Premier Division at the beginning of the season after a one-year stint in the First Division and have now booked a date with Devonshire Cougars in next month?s Friendship Trophy final.

They also figure in a three-horse race for the league championship.

The Warwick club ousted defending Friendship Trophy champions and inaugural winners North Village at Somerset Cricket Club this week to advance to a second Friendship final in three seasons and 12th overall.

Zebras currently hold the record for the most wins (nine) in the competition and remain the only club other than Somerset Trojans to win the trophy three times on the trot ? and are the only team to have achieved the feat twice, having done so during the early 1970s and mid- 1980s.

Trojans are the only club to previously hold onto the trophy for four consecutive years between 1966 to 1970.

Zebras presently trail Premier Division leaders Dandy Town by four points with three matches remaining in the league campaign.

?Basically team concept has been the cornerstone to our success so far. The players have been committed and that is something which has really been stressed this season,? explained Zebras coach Mark Wade.

?We have been able to step that up and try to work on some additional aspects of our game. At the end of last season the coaching staff had a long look at the players at their disposal and in some cases we had to adapt our style of play to that of the quality of certain players we had.

?For example some players seemed to be more comfortable on the ball and so we had to take that into account and think of a style or role that would best suit the player.?

Having observed his charges avenge last month?s FA Cup semi-final loss to Village, Wade has set his sights on what would be a second Friendship title at the helm of the team.

But in order to achieve that objective Zebras will have to get by a Cougars side they have yet to beat in two outings this season.

?It?s nice to get another crack against them,? said Wade. ?But our philosophy has always been to take it one game at a time. I?ve always been reluctant to look past the next match.?

Zebras face a wounded Trojans tomorrow at Southampton Oval, the same venue where the West Enders lost 2-1 to First Division Hamilton Parish in the FA Cup six days ago.

Wade anticipates Trojans to come out all guns ablaze as they seek to steer clear from the relegation zone. But the stakes will also be high for a Zebras side attempting to keep pace with Hornets and Cougars in the championship race.

?Somerset still have some things to do in order to avoid relegation,? Wade noted. ?And so we will be fighting a wounded tiger. It?s going to be a tense and crucial match and the old PHC and Somerset rivalry will also play a part of it.?

Wade described Wednesday night?s 1-0 Friendship win over Village as ?poor? though it was the final outcome of the match which mattered most.

?It?s a little bit of reward for the players for the work they have been putting in this season,? he added. ?It wasn?t an entertaining match but our players showed a different side and that was the side that was able to get down and dirty, defend and get the job done.

?They displayed a lot of guts by defending the way they did. And although we don?t like to win ugly, sometimes that?s what has to be done. So we are happy to actually be in one of the cup finals at the end of the season.?

Zebras will meet Cougars at the National Sports Centre on April 3 in the Friendship Trophy final while Ireland Rangers take on St.David?s in the First Division Shield final.