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Cougars set sights on Triple Crown

Devonshire Cougars celebrate winning their second successive FA Cup title in 2011. Cougars will look to reclaim the FA Cup to complete their quest for the 'Triple Crown' this season.

Devonshire Cougars coach Dennis Brown insists his side won’t get complacent as they chase the final trophy to complete the coveted ‘Triple Crown’ in the closing weeks of the season.The Devonshire club have two of the trophies in the bag already, having won the Friendship Trophy on New Year’s Day with a penalty shoot-out win over Dandy Town and wrapping up the Digicel Premier Division title over the weekend when nearest rivals North Village lost to Somerset Trojans at home. Now instead of travelling to Bernard Park on Sunday for a crucial encounter, Cougars will be in a celebratory mood, knowing that the title is already in the bag.Now the focus for the ‘Big Cats’ is the FA Cup where they will meet Southampton Rangers in the semi-finals on March 30 at Goose Gosling Field. Brown insists the team cannot afford to begin looking any further than that match against an unpredictable Rangers side.“The league has always been our main priority from our preseason preparations and the other trophies are a bonus,” said Brown, who won the title five times as a player for Somerset Trojans. “We cannot think of any ‘Triple Crown’ unless we put ourselves in position by getting to the FA final.“We cannot get caught up looking ahead to the final when we still have a semi-final to play. Rangers will be a difficult opponent in the match and we will need to be prepared because they are a big physical team.”Brown, who has experienced the disappointment of relegation with the Trojans as coach, is excited to be winning the league for the first time as a coach. Now the club is aiming for their first ‘Triple Crown’ (league, FA and Friendship).“It is good to win my first league title as a coach and realistically last season was a get-to-know-me kind of year,” Brown said of his first season as Cougars coach.“My coaching history in Bermuda has always seen my second season as the season where my teams take shape to where I want them. This happened at Wolves, Somerset Trojans and now Cougars.”It was only last year that calls to have the boss replaced after failing to win any silverware were ringing out around the club. If he was under pressure he didn’t show it as Brown downplayed the anxiety of last term’s misfortunes, noting he is his own biggest critic when it comes to the job he is asked to do.“Nobody puts more pressure on me than myself because I have been a winner all my life growing up in Somerset so I thrive on pressure and embrace it,” said the former Somerset Trojans and Bermuda defender.“Even last season I was telling people don’t judge me on my first season but after my second then you can see where we are at. I always knew that the players at Cougars had immense talent but with a bit a discipline added to their play I knew that they can accomplish things if they listened. I also placed more demands on them this season in relation to fitness levels and time spent on the training pitch.”Brown also feels the tragic death last summer of midfielder Tumaini Steede in a bike accident had a significant impact on the players’ mindset going into the new season as they were motivated to go and achieve something in his memory.“Playing for Tumaini was a huge motivating factor this season and really brought the team along when everyone needed that morale support after his unfortunate passing,” said the coach, a candidate for Coach of the Year.“His spirit will always be with us through Moses (his brother) and assistant coach Dago (father) in the changing room.“I told the team that I lost an older brother (Richard) when I was 11 years old, that he was very good in sports like I was and all my playing career I dedicated to his memory.”