Dandy Town will not have much time to recover from their Dudley Eve Trophy defeat by Devonshire Cougars on Wednesday, before returning to league action with a top-of-the-table clash with leaders Robin Hood tonight at Goose Gosling Field.

Town were denied a record eleventh Dudley Eve title by Cougars’ two goals in the last five minutes, which sealed a 2-1 win and handed the Hornets their first loss of the season.

Now, they have their sights on first place in the league where only two points separate the top three teams. Hood and Town are the last two unbeaten teams in the league. Town will be without midfielder Azende Furbert, who is serving a one-match ban after being sent off in the final for two yellow cards.

North Village, the champions, are also playing today, travelling to Somerset for a 3pm fixture against the Trojans. Village suffered their first league loss last weekend when Robin Hood beat them 3-0.

Victory for Village would move them level on 14 points with Town and Cougars, while a Somerset win would see them move two places up to fourth.

Things are also getting more interesting at the other end of the table where Devonshire Colts and Somerset Eagles were boosted by their first wins, leaving X-Roads as the only team without a win.

Eagles are hoping to build on last weekend’s drama when substitute Koshun Durrant’s 90th-minute goal gave them their first win of the season and lifted them off the bottom.

“We needed this, one game to steady the ship,” said a relieved Eagles coach Jensen Rogers after the 3-2 win over X-Roads.

“Every week we’ve seen improvements in certain things and we just wanted to have one day when it all came together. Now we can continue working for more points.

“It was a dramatic finish, a guy coming off the bench and scoring a good goal. Hopefully, he can feed off that and build up his game as well.”

Eagles will play Devonshire Colts tomorrow at White Hill Field, their opponents no doubt full of confidence after animpressive 4-2 win over St George’s last weekend that moved them ahead of their opponents.

St George’s came from 4-0 behind but suffered another setback when Clay Darrell was sent off, ruling him out of tomorrow’s match away to mid-table PHC. The Zebras are also coming off a loss, going down to Cougars last weekend to end a run of three straight wins.

Cougars, who became the Dudley Eve champions for a fifth time in midweek, play Southampton Rangers at Devonshire Rec in tomorrow’s other match. Cougars will likely be without goalkeeper Ajai Daniels, who limped out of the final in the 63rd miunte with an Achilles injury.

In First Division action, second and third-placed St David’s and Hamilton Parish will meet at St David’s today in the top match at 3pm. St David’s trail leaders Young Men’s Social Club by three points but with a game in hand, while Parish are a farther point back but with two games in hand on St David’s and three on the leaders.

Tomorrow, Social Club are away to Ireland Rangers, Boulevard play Wolves at Goose Gosling Field and Flanagan’s Onions meet Vasco at Goose Gosling Field in a rescheduled match that will start at 5pm.

Friendship Trophy and First Division Shield draws

Friendship Trophy preliminary round

November 28

Dandy Town v Devonshire Cougars (Goose Gosling Field, 9pm)

November 29

Robin Hood v Somerset Trojans (Goose Gosling Field, 2.30pm)

Southampton Rangers v Somerset Eagles (Southampton Oval, 2.30pm)

Quarter-finals

December 20

Devonshire Colts v Dandy Town/Devonshire Cougars.

X-Roads v Robin Hood/Somerset Trojans

St George’s v Southampton Rangers/Somerset Eagles

North Village v PHC Zebras

• Venues and times to be announced

First Division quarter-finals

December 20

Hamilton Parish v Flanagan’s Onions

Vasco v St David’s

Ireland Rangers v Young Men’s Social Club

Boulevard v Wolves

• Venues and times to be announced