There’s a distinctive aura of deja vu at the Den these days as Devonshire Cougars sharpen their claws ahead of Sunday’s league title decider at home with champions North Village.

It was only two seasons ago when Cougars clinched a maiden Premier Division championship without suspended key players. And history does have a peculiar way of repeating itself — although this time around the script has been slightly tampered with as injuries and not suspensions have cast doubts on the Big Cats’ league title ambitions.

Sidelined through injury and not expected to play any part in Sunday’s rubber at the Den are prolific striker Raymond Beach and forwards Domico Coddington, Reggie Baker and Kor Von Tucker.

Still, Cougars’ assistant coach Shawn Smith fancies his team’s chances just as good as those of arch-rivals Village.

“We do have a bit of injury concerns, but we still have a lot of depth. We have had a lot of young players step up for us and show a lot of maturity,” he said.

And then there’s the team’s cohesiveness which proved to be the driving force that swept Cougars to the 2004-05 league championship.

“We always stress the importance of team,” Smith said.

“This team is not built around individuals, even though we do have some outstanding players such as Kwame (Steede) who has carried us throughout the season.”

And Steede, the Cougars’ captain, will again be burdened with carrying the bulk of the load and leading from the front on Sunday.

Not much has separated the two clubs in two meetings this season. Village and Cougars drew (3-3) in the first league meeting last October before the latter ran out 4-3 victors against the Red Army in the Dudley Eve last December.

Smith expects Sunday’s encounter to be just as “tough”.

“It’s definitely going to be lots of pressure and probably all going to come down to who really wants it the most basically,” he said.

Cougars have shown great character this season despite losing forward Heys Wolfe, key cogs Beach and Coddington to injury and dropping valuable points against Boulevard and Dandy Town.

“The maturity level of the team has risen from season to season with everybody pulling their own weight, while the guys coming in are filling in the blanks. And basically this is what team concept is all about and something that has carried us despite the injuries we’ve had,” Smith said.

“Obviously we want to win the league at the end of the day, and home field can play to an advantage. But once the whistle goes anything can happen on the day. This is basically a cup final really and there’s a lot of history between the two clubs.”

Last season saw Village achieve a rare triple crown haul of league, Friendship Trophy and FA Cup. And now nearly 12 month’s later it’s Cougars who find themselves in with a realistic shot at achieving the coveted feat.