Somerset Cricket Club have returned from a highly successful soccer tour of Florida where both the club?s under-nine and under-ten teams came close to victory at the Walt Disney Spring Soccer Festival Tournament in Orlando.

Making their debuts in the tournament, the under-nine team committed a rare defensive error with seconds remaining which allowed the Orlando Bullets to scrape a 2-1 win and deny the young Trojans passage through to the final at Disney?s Wide World of Sport complex.

Lightning then struck twice as Tallahassee United grabbed a late winner from a direct free kick to steal a 2-1 win over the under-ten team in the tournament final.

Despite coming up just short, Trojans coach Mike Corday said he was delighted his young charges had been exposed to a high level of competition.

?We dominated both games but lessons were definitely learned,? said Corday. ?We learned as a team that sometimes attractive football doesn?t always win championships . . . sometimes you have to play with more heart in order to achieve what you set out to achieve.

?Some of our boys were very intimidated and we have to remember those guys (overseas opponents) are playing in tournaments like that every weekend. But for us it was a first and you could just tell that many of them were nervous.?

Somerset returned to the Island on Monday and already plans are in the works to have the youngsters enter next spring?s tournament.

?We had a lot of positive correspondence with the other teams and we really want to play in that tournament again . . . it really was a nice experience,? said Corday. ?The boys were almost perfect ambassadors for the Island. They were very well behaved and everywhere we went we received the same positive comments about their conduct. So we really achieved a lot on tour.?

Hamilton Parish Hot Peppers will be holding their annual Under-11 Tournament at Shelly Bay Field today, starting at 8.30 a.m. So far ten teams have entered the competition.