A new Martonmere Cup champion will be crowned when unbeaten Devonshire Cougars and rejuvenated North Village Rams do battle on Remembrance Day in what will be a repeat of the 2003-04 final which saw the latter prevail 3-0 over their nearby rivals.

Rams dethroned cup holders PHC Zebras earlier this week to advance to a record 13th Martonmere Cup final where they will be looking to take another step towards becomming the first Premier Division club to win the competition, played in memory of former Bermuda Governor Lord Martonmere, on ten occassions.

During the 1973-74 season Rams became only the second club to triumphantly raise the showpiece after defeating inaugural winners Devonshire Colts 2-1 in the final.

Thirty-one years later Rams, one of six clubs to have won back-to-back Martonmere Cup crowns, edged Dandy Town 3-2 in extra- time to celebrate an unprecedented eighth win in the competition.

To date Rams are the only club to win back-to-back Martonmere titles on three separate occassions.

For Rams coach Elliott Jennings, reaching this year's final has been an achievement in itself given his team's poor start to the 2008-09 season.

Rams were comprehensively beaten 7-1 by Zebras in the Charity Cup and 7-3 by Hornets in a Martonmere Cup Group B clash last September and have only managed one win in league play so far.

"Football is a very unpredictable sport, what else can I say? We started off bad (in the Martonmere cup) but here we are still in with a chance of winning the competition," Jennings told The Royal Gazette.

"It's still early in the season and we do have a few more kinks to iron out. And hopefully from here we can continue to grow and play better football."

Rams have struggled in the absences of college kids Keishen Bean, Shayne Hollis and Tyrell Burgess and forward Sammy Degraff who is currently on football trials in Brazil.

Jennings could not confirm yesterday whether or not some of key absentees would be back for this month's Martonmere clash against a Cougars that have yet to taste defeat this season.

Ex-Bermuda international Jennings admits his team will have their work cut out for them against the Big Cats who will be looking to avenge their 2003-04 Martonmere Cup final loss to Rams.

"Cougars are unbeaten this season and so that speaks volumes about them.

"They have a new coach (Devarr Boyles) and are very inspired at the moment and so it's going to be a really interesting final," he said.

Cougars edged Village 3-2 during a riveting 2001-02 Martonmere Cup final at Lords to capture a first major domestic title under then coach Albert Smith who is now coach of Premier Division newcommers Southampton Rangers.

Reflecting upon Rams' recent 2-1 semi-final win over PHC, Jennings said: "For the first time we competed collectively as a team and I must congratulate my players for their performances. It was a very encouraging result, but we still have a long way to go."

Powering Rams to victory at the Den on Thursday night was skipper Ralph Bean Jr. who bagged a brace from the penalty spot to seal his team's come-from-behind win.

Zebras assistant coach Jack Castle admitted having been denied a third straight trip to the Martonmere Cup final was indeed a bitter pill to swallow.

"We dominated the game but conceded two penalties late in the game. We keep having these mental lapses that are proving costly," Castle lamented.

"It was a very disappointing loss that shows that we need to work on the mental side of the game.

"Hopefully this loss snaps us back into reality because we need to be tougher mentally. We can't keep dominating games and then letting them slip away from us because of mental lapses."