North Village Rams might be walking among the wounded, but in no way are they down for the count insists team captain Kentoine Jennings.

The two-time defending Martonmere Cup champions had a bid for an unprecedented third straight cup triumph cruelly dashed by Somerset Trojans at BAA Field on Tuesday night.

With a little bit more legs and, needless to say, better finishing on the part of returning striker Mackie Crane, Rams? Martonmere hopes might have still been alive.

But it wasn?t to be as Trojans? striker Rodre (Piper) Wilson netted a late brace to catapult the perennial cup giants through to their tenth Martonmere final appearance.

Trojans are pitted against last year?s beaten finalists Dandy Town in the November 11 final at the National Sports Centre in what will be a repeat of the 1994-95 Friendship Trophy final and fifth final overall involving the two clubs.

To date Trojans have a total of seven Martonmere titles to their credit while Hornets have four.

In achieving victory, Somerset also denied Rams the chance of appearing in what would have been a fourth straight final in five seasons.

In the wake of Tuesday night?s defeat, Jennings told : ?It was very disappointing to be so close to winning but then again so far. But a loss is a loss and we felt that even with the team we had we still should have put the game away.?

Instead, Wilson sent the teams into extra time with an equaliser four minutes from the end ? a minute after Crane?s glaring miss at the opposite end that could have put the match beyond Trojans? reach.

?That was probably the biggest turning point in the match,? Jennings added. ?Had he (Crane) put the ball away I think the game would have been over. That would?ve taken a lot of sting out of Somerset and put more energy into our players.

?It was very disappointing but those things sometimes happen. We?ve seen it all happen before and it probably will happen again.?

Another key factor attributed to Ram?s demise was a lack of fitness.

?Everybody needs to come out to training and stop making excuses about our performances in games,? Jennings urged. ?Our guys need to put in the work because even without some of key players we still should have won the match.

?It just goes to show we do have the talent but physically I think we ran out of gas. Somerset just kept coming at us. Even though they weren?t breaking us down as much when they created opportunities the difference was they took them and we didn?t.

?I think far too much pressure was placed on our defence because our midfield and forwards weren?t clicking as we would have liked.?

Still, Jennings reckons his team-mates would have gained something from the match.

?Somerset definitely gave us a wakeup call. But they also gave us some things we can take forward as far as our ability to compete and probably beat Somerset when we are at full-strength and on top of our game on the the day,? he said.

Rams are home to Boulevard this Sunday.

?It?s just a matter of us going out there and playing our style of football and trying to the things we can do to the best of our ability especially as far as scoring goals is concerned,? Jennings added.

?We need to really start placing emphasis on taking our chances and putting teams where we need to put them so that we can come away with the victories.?