Carlos Smith?s late heroics against PHC Zebras did more than dump the perennial FA Cup kings from the competition last Sunday ? it also signalled the end of an era.

Zebras coach Mark Wade resigned after watching his team?s hopes of an unprecedented tenth FA Cup triumph evaporate into thin air at Southampton Oval.

Wade, a successor to Sammy Swan in 20001-02, was the sixth coach at Stadium Lane in the past 17 years.

The former Zebras? full back, who played under the revered Leroy (Nibs) Lewis, endured a chequered four-year coaching stint which saw the Premier Division club savour Friendship Trophy glory in 2001-02 but then get relegated the very next season after appearing in a seventh Martonmere Cup final.

?Overall it?s been enjoyable and if you were to ask me would I do it all again I would give you a resounding ?yes?,? said Wade, son of former Pembroke Juniors forward Austin (Sockie) Wade. ?But coaching also had its low points and obviously being relegated (in 2002-03) was one of them.?

Wade?s final season at the helm also proved to be a frustrating campaign.

?From a player?s perspective, there?s an unwritten policy between player and coach in which the players are required to train and retain the information and execute the game plan on the day,? the Chelmsford University graduate continued.

?The coach is then expected to conduct the training sessions and pick the team and it does become frustrating when a part of that policy isn?t upheld. But I definitely received good support from the club and from the majority of the players.?

Wade was assistant coach to Swan ? who has since returned to playing at age 44 ? for two years. He also enjoyed a coaching stint with the club?s women?s team and remains heavily involved at the youth level.

In addition to winning a Friendship Trophy, Wade takes great pride in having toured England with Zebras in the summer of 2003-04, implementing a new playing system and having several key players enrol in studies abroad under his watch.

Yet he admits having the likes of Cecoy Robinson, Johnny Fray, Robert Richardson and Jahnai Raynor all committed to overseas studies came at a cost and has greatly impacted the team.

?We were happy to have them go off to school and our intention was to try and replace those four players, but they were very important players when I look back on it now,? added Wade, who also sits on the Bermuda Football Association?s (BFA) youth committee.

Wade leaves behind a nucleus of players he feels have yet to reach their full potential.

?We haven?t seen this team?s full potential as a whole and definitely not from a few individuals in the team,? he said. ? I think some of the stumbling blocks have been players not focusing on football.?

But rather than lament over the not-so-good times, Wade preferred to dwell on some of the more positive achievements during his watch like winning a first major cup title as a coach.

?It was satisfying as a coach to watch the tactics work so effectively playing against North Village in the final (Friendship) on a surface that played directly into their hands,? he said.

Zebras dashed Village?s hopes of a triple crown championship under coach Scott Morton, now with Dandy Town.

?We employed some tactics that broke down their game plan and we were able to catch them on the break,? Wade said.

At the time Zebras? squad boasted skilful cousins Kenny Mills and Stephen Astwood, Shawn Russell and Ottis Steede.

?We had players back then who were able to handle the ball and it was really Kenny (Mills) who actually tore the heart out of Village that day,? Wade added.

The outgoing coach, who celebrates his birthday along with club president Chris Furbert on Christmas Day, also rates bringing a different ?flavour? to PHC football high on his personal list. Zebras earned the nickname ?Strike Force? in the 1980s and early 90s for their direct approach and route one football tactics.

Wade is largely credited for implementing a more fluent and deliberate passing game at the Warwick-based club.

?One of my goals I wanted to achieve when I took over as head coach was to bring a different flavour to the club which was always known as a direct team,? he said. ?But once I looked at the type of players we had at our disposal at the time and some of the ones coming up through our junior ranks, it wasn?t feasible to ask some of the players we had to play route one football when they had other qualities.

?Changing our formation from 4-3-3 to 4-4-2 has gradually encouraged us to play a more passing game all along the ground and it has been interesting actually changing the system. I consider myself as a change agent because we now play 4-4-2 right along through our junior football programme which I am also responsible for.

?We had to alter our training methods and start to develop players who could handle the ball or look to pass and build up from the back instead of relying solely upon direct football that ironically some of the more successful clubs in the country today are playing like Dandy Town and Devonshire Cougars to some degree.?

Wade insists the adjustment has little to do with the club?s misfortunes of late.

?I don?t think it has affected them and when I look back at our performance in 2003-04, I thought they played some very exciting football along the ground,? he said. ?All I think was needed at that particular point was to fine tune and build on that success. However, we just weren?t able to achieve that as we should have.?

Wade sensed the time was right to stand down several months ago.

?When you start losing your energy and making mistakes something had to give and that was either resign from the executive or resign from coaching,? he said. ?So I chose to resign from coaching because that was the area taking up the bulk of my time.?

Wade admitted it was difficult to fathom reality once referee Lyndon Raynor blew the final whistle last Sunday, effectively bringing the curtains down on his coaching career.

?It was disappointing for me because obviously whenever you are looking to bow out of anything you always want to do so on a good note,? he said. ?I was hoping to finish my tenure as senior coach on the carpet in the FA Cup Final. But that wasn?t to be and I feel free and looking towards doing some of the things I couldn?t do because of my commitment to the club as coach. ?

Incidentally, in 1997 Wade broke his left leg playing against Dandy Town at St. John?s Field. Nine years later he would end his senior coaching career at Zebras against none other than Hornets.

?I never seriously thought about that or even looked at it that way,? smiled Wade, who hasn?t ruled out the possibility of coaching at another club in the future. ?But if you were to ask me would I do it all over again, I?d certainly say yes. Now we?ll have to wait and see what my time away from the game does.?

But for the time being, Wade is content to remain coaching at the junior level.

?Maybe going forward I will lean more to the administrative side of the sport,? he said. ?I currently sit on the youth committee at the BFA and right now at PHC we are trying to establish channels for our youth players to get exposed to professional teams and colleges a lot earlier.

?Two professionals that came out of PHC, Kyle Lightbourne and Meshach Wade, left at 23 and 19. But we are looking to get our players out of here earlier than that like at age 13 or 14 because I think it is at those ages where our youngsters start to lose their competitive edge. And overall I think youth football is thriving at PHC.?