action on Thursday night as the second half of the Premier Division campaign begins after the Christmas break.

Injuries and suspension, the story of Vasco's season, have depleted their already shallow squad down to less than 16 players as they prepare to play their sixth match in 15 days.

Substitute Albert Wolffe is serving a one-match ban because of a red card on the weekend while college student Clay Smith will also miss the Wolves match at Devonshire Rec. for too many yellow cards. A hamstring injury would probably have ruled him out anyway.

And then there is the veteran of the team, Derek Stapley, whose knee has still not fully recovered, as was seen in the first leg of the Dudley Eve final when he went off after just 10 minutes at Somerset.

Sinclair Gibbons should be back after missing the second leg of the Dudley Eve final because of a red card and one of the team's most influential players, midfielder Kuma Smith, is their latest casualty with a nagging groin injury.

Another recent signing, Jamel (Mouse) Smith from North Village, has also been missing lately.

"We only have 13 players, we lost Irving (Burgess) through injury, Kuma's groin is hurting, Keith's (Jennings) ankles are hurting...,'' said coach John Rebello after Sunday's 3-1 win over Colts.

"It's been a struggle and we just have to hang in there as a team. If we don't play too many back to back games we're okay, but once we play back to back we're in trouble because we don't have enough depth on the bench.'' With the Dudley Eve now gone and Vasco already out of the Friendship, their hopes of silverware rest with the league, which they have won three times in the last four seasons, and the FA Cup. That trophy has been won by Vasco three times in the last six seasons.

"Everybody wrote us off at the beginning of the season, and it was expected after what happened at the club,'' said Rebello.

"But then you sign players like the Caisey brothers who are gone through injuries, Dennis Robinson, Meshach Wade who are gone, and suddenly we have an 18-man team down to 13.

"That would have destroyed most teams, but we've stayed competitive. It was no excuse for what happened the other night (6-0 loss to Colts) but we've managed to stay competitive.

"We still have the league and the FA so there are still tournaments there to keep the team striding forward.'' The loss to Colts in the Dudley Eve marked the first time that Vasco had lost in a Dudley Eve final, having won in their four previous appearances, including against Colts in 1997-98.

But since Vasco hammered Colts 7-1 to win the league last March, Colts have had the better of the champions, beating them three straight, including twice last month.

Gradually Colts are putting their cup jinx behind them with their third cup final triumph since last April. The victory in the Dudley Eve was their first since 1982-83, having established a comfortable 6-0 lead in the first leg.

But they almost self destructed in the second final when two early goals at St. David's gave Vasco hope of erasing the six-goal deficit.

"Two early goals made it a little exciting for them,'' Colts captain Shannon Burgess conceded.

"We were fortunate that they didn't put one or two away.'' And while Colts were relaxed at the start of the match, Vasco's early success opened up the game as they kept their opponents under constant pressure.

"Colts came out and felt `this game is won and we don't have to play, we can just pick up the trophy' but we caught them by surprise,'' said Rebello. "And when they tried to get back into the game they couldn't take it to that level.'' Colts, too, will now redirect their focus with the league and FA Cup the two big trophies remaining.

Burgess hopes his still young team will have learned some important lessons.

"We came into this game 6-0 up and it's understandable that we might have relaxed a little bit,'' said the captain.

"Until we take one game at a time we're not going to be the championship team that we want to be. On the day we can play well, as we showed in this tournament. We can outplay any team on any given day but we have to execute.'' Stiff challenge: Vasco will have to do without college student Clay Smith (centre left), seen here challenging Devonshire Colts goalkeeper Troy Hall for the ball during Sunday's Dudley Eve trophy second leg.