Bermuda Football Association have handed relegation-threatened Devonshire Colts a massive get-out-of-jail free card.

The BFA have voted to expand the Premier Division next season to –10 teams, which means there will be no automatic relegation at the end of the current campaign.

Instead the first seven sides in the top-flight, and the top two in the second-tier, will take nine of the places available. There will then be a two-leg play-off between the bottom club in the Premier Division, and the third-placed side in the First Division, to decide who will take the final spot in the new league.

It means that Colts, who are rock-bottom having failed to win a single league game all season, will now get a second chance to avoid being relegated should their present form continue.

As things stand that would see them take on St David's, who are currently third in the second tier, for the right to play in the expanded Premier Division.

However Colts skipper Aljame Zuill, who has been ruled out for the rest of the season with an Achilles injury, doesn't want his side to see this as an excuse to stop fighting to get off the bottom of the table.

"We need to have the mentality that we need to make a move now, and not wait for someone to give us something," he said.

"We shouldn't be looking for this (league expansion) to bail us out.

"We should be battling it out with everyone else instead of sitting at the bottom of the table like we are now.

"Guys have to work everything out that is causing the problems we have now, and look to stay in contention for our top flight status, but if we have to play a play-off, then so be it."

Given their current predicament it would be unsurprising to discover that Zuill is a vocal support of the changes, but he genuinely believes that having 10 teams in the top-flight will only benefit the game on the Island.

"It will be a definite benefit because there won't be as many breaks in the schedule," he said. "Football could go through the whole season opposed to the stopping-starting that we have now.

"Even if there would be a break, it could be one week here, one week there and not how it is now.

"The amount of breaks we have had, you see teams on form for a little while and then a break interrupts their harmony.

"When you go on break, you have to take a minute or two to catch yourself before you can regain your form and that is why the league is how it is

"One team is on top, then a break and then people are wondering why they have hit a slump."

The changes, which also include a nine-team second-tier, were presented by technical director Derek Broadley to a meeting of the clubs on Monday night as part of a wide-ranging restructuring of the game in Bermuda.

A presentation was sent out to clubs yesterday, but the time sensitive nature of the expansion plans meant that a decision had to be made on Monday at the Affiliates' Semi-Annual Congress.

"The Bermuda Football Association and its Affiliates reconvened their Semi-Annual Congress meeting on Monday night," said a BFA statement.

"After much deliberation, all parties agreed to restructure the Premier and First Division Leagues for the upcoming 2009/10 football season with 10 teams in the Premier Division and nine teams in the First Division.

"The eighth place team of the Premier Division will play the third place team of the First Division in a two-leg play-off at a neutral field, at the end of this current season."

n Tonight's semi-final Shield match will see Somerset Eagles take on Somerset Trojans at Somerset Cricket Club at 8 p.m. The Friendship Trophy semi-final between Boulevard and PHC has been postponed until next week because BAA Field is unavailable.