The Martonmere monkey off their backs, St. George's Colts will look forward to their first participation in the early season tournament with keen interest.

Never in the 23 years that the tournament -- in honour of a former Bermuda governor -- has been played have the east enders managed to qualify by finishing in a top six position in the First Division.

Twice in the 1980s they have been denied a place in their last match of the season, the first time in 1980 when they lost to North Village after leading with six minutes remaining and lost 2-1 and then again in 1986 when they could only manage a 2-2 draw with already relegated BAA when a victory would have taken them through on goal difference ahead of Boulevard.

Their luck finally changed on the weekend when they beat Devonshire Colts to move from seventh to fifth in the standings, which means they will line up in the same group with league champions Boulevard and Somerset for their debut in the Martonmere Cup in September.

"This is our first time and I'm excited for the team and the club itself that we qualified,'' said Neil Paynter, who has the distinction of being the coach to take them to their first Martonmere Cup in his first year at the helm.

Paynter, forced to the sidelines this season because of a knee operation, said qualifying for the Martonmere Cup was his main priority. It made up for the disappointment of failing to reach the FA Cup final for the first time, going down 2-1 to Devonshire Cougars in the semi-final.

"If we could have picked up a trophy that would have been a bonus,'' admitted Paynter. "There have been a few ups and downs but overall it's been a good season. We need a little bit more consistency.'' Paynter plans to resume playing next season and could be back in action for the Martonmere Cup, lending his experience in the competition from a spell with Dandy Town to a team with few players who have been there before.

"Hopefully I can get some extensive rehabilitation over the summer and hope (to play) by October or November,'' said Paynter. "I don't want to race it too much. The doctor said by September I should be okay, if everything goes well. There is still a lot of work to do.'' In a season when every team went through periods of inconsistency, St.

George's rose as high as third in the standings and plunged as low as eighth late in the campaign before they took five out of a maximum of six points from their last three matches to rise to a comfortable mid-table finish.

"I feel we were in contention in all our games, except the Vasco game (at home) when the result (3-1) result was justified,'' said the coach.

During the three seasons St. George's have been back in the First Division they have amassed one of the best defensive records, which is due largely to the consistency of goalkeeper Troy Hall and his back four of Dean Bailey, Quinton Francis, Phillip Bailey and Andre Todd. Their 19 goals conceded this season was an improvement on the 22 they gave up in the 1993-94 season and the 21 the season before that.

There was also a slight improvement in the goal scoring department with Clay Smith leading the way with 10 goals before missing the last three matches of the season.

"Basically we want to be competitive and go one step better than next year, maybe fourth place,'' said Paynter. "If we're first, fine, but at least we want to improve. Usually we go down in our third year.'' St. George's will hold a post-mortem for the season tonight at 7.00 at the club. All senior players who represented the club during the season are asked to attend.