Ray Jones, the Devonshire Colts coach, has hailed his team’s remarkable turnaround in the Dudley Eve Trophy.

Colts were on the brink of elimination after losing 2-1 in their tournament opener against group C rivals Devonshire Cougars but bounced back brilliantly in a convincing 3-1 win over FA Cup champions St George’s Colts at PHC Field on Sunday night.

In doing so, they clinched a spot in the semi-finals of the competition.

It was a vast improvement from their previous outing against Cougars, leaving Jones thrilled with his team’s development, especially their match fitness.

“The performance was definitely improved. I was not here for the first match and I watched the tape and went over some things after analysing it and put some work in physically,” he told The Royal Gazette.

“I thought in the first game physically we kind of melted after 60 minutes, so last night was a vast improvement in that regard, which then allowed us to execute our game plan a bit better,” he added.

“We also did not put any pressure on the boys. We just told them what would be the ideal result.”

Jones said the priority heading into the competition was to acclimatise his players to the quicker pace of the game in the top flight.

“For us just being promoted, Dudley Eve is not a priority, it’s really getting up to speed with the pace of the league,” he said. “It’s a major step up in pace and how long you have to be consistent in a match.

“So those were the real targets that we were looking for last night and then everything else fell into place with the result.

“We’ve still got some work to do and could have done some things to make the result a little easier. But overall the coaching staff are very happy with the performance and the bonus of being in the draw for the next round.Now we’re just waiting.

“We have made it this far so our focus will probably change to see how far we can advance whereas last night was all about performance.”

Colts advanced by way of a superior goal difference over their rivals St George’s and Cougars after the trio finished the group stage with three points each.

Leading their charge against St George’s was experienced striker Chermal Henry, who netted a hat trick.

“I spoke to him as well because I thought in the first game he could have taken those chances. Last week we put in some work on finishing and he came through last night with a hat-trick, so we are happy with the improvement from one week,” Jones added.

“He is our main marksman and scored 20 odd goals in the First Division last season, so we are looking for him to do the same thing in the Premier Division.”

Jones said the inspiring result in his team’s last outing against St George’s has boosted the confidence of his players having proven that they can hold their own at this level.

“It’s massive and you could see the confidence after the match in their face,” he said. We just got edged out in the first match by the team that came third (Cougars) and just played the FA Cup champions (St George’s) and we beat them.

“The dressing room was definitely beaming to say we can compete in this league having just come up. It was a good marker but we still know we have a lot of work to do.”

Group B winners Paget Lions are the only other team to have secured their spot in the semi-finals thus far.

Colts and Paget will be joined in the last four by the eventual group A winners and the second best team from the three groups.