The agony of FA Cup semi-final defeat gave way to the joy of Premier Division safety for Somerset Trojans on Sunday, finally giving coach Dennis Brown some pleasure.

The outspoken Brown was incandescent with rage after his side wasted a gilt-edged shot at FA glory by underestimating their Division One opponents and allowing Hamilton Parish to book a place on the carpet against Village the previous weekend.

But his men went some way to repairing that damage by ending PHC?s title dream with a 2-1 victory on Sunday ? and preserving their place in the top flight for another year.

?I didn?t really give the players a roasting before the game but we talked about some scenarios,? said Brown, who was unusually quiet on the touchline at Southampton Oval during the upset victory.

?When you play stronger sides you have to play a certain way and I made it clear to the players what I wanted to see from them.

?Sometimes you have to get your boots dirty and get stuck in and battle and I think we did that.

?I was very pleased with the performance. It wasn?t pretty at times, but it is the result that matters. It doesn?t make up for that cup defeat but it is good that they responded in the right way.?

Trojans have lost just once in the league in the second half of the season, going down to Dandy Town, a statistic that pleases their coach immensely.

?I think if they put together a table for games since the Christmas break, we would be right up there,? he continued.

?We have lost just the one game and drawn one game and the rest we have won. I think we can all be proud of how we have performed ? in the league.?

And Brown was particularly pleased with the two goals that ensured the three points that guaranteed safety, pieces of sublime skill that stood out on a scrappy afternoon at the Oval.

Powerful forward Stephen Astwood broke the deadlock after a clever run from Dion Stovell down the wing opened up space for the national team striker to hammer home a rocket from the edge of the box while Rohaan Simons latched on to a giant goal kick from Timmy Figureido to volley home the winner.

?I was very happy with both goals,? continued Brown.

?I though Dion did brilliantly on the wing, taking two defenders out of the game and Stephen, as far as I?m concerned, is one of the best finishers on the Island.

?He can really strike a ball and he showed that.

?The last goal was also very pleasing. You always try and impress upon your strikers the need to be aware of mistakes by defenders and Rohaan did that.

?He was alert and made sure he punished them with a great finish. It was a performance I was very happy with.?

Brown also said he was delighted with Astwood?s discipline following the incident in which Kenneth Mills, Astwood?s cousin, was dismissed for a headbutt.

?I thought he showed great discipline,? continued Brown, former national team skipper and assistant coach to Kenny Thompson,

?It takes a lot to restrain yourself from retaliating when someone puts their head against yours like that. It was good to see him walk away from that without doing anything to get himself sent off.?

And with two matches left, and no trophies to play for, Brown admitted there was still one more goal for the season.

?We can?t win the league but we can still influence who does,? he added.

?We?ve still got to play Cougars and we want to play our part in the title race with a strong performance.?

And with the Trojans on a roll, Andrew Bascome?s men need to be ready for a scrap in one of their final two attempts to take a maiden title against a team they have conceded 11 goals against in the last two meetings.