WITH an unbeaten record and 124 goals in just 22 games, St. George's All-Stars could have been forgiven for thinking they had done enough to clinch the Commercial B Division championship ? particularly when they took four points of fellow title contenders Dandy Town Roots.

But although the east end team lost out by one point in the final reckoning they have much to look back on in a remarkable season as they return to the Commercial A at the first go.

As All-Stars founding member and secretary Stephen Paynter said, promotion and relegation has been nothing new for his side recently.

He said: "We have been up and down like a yo-yo."

One key factor this year has been the phenomenal form of striker Lionel Cann who banged in 66 goals.

Cann was missing for St. George's final game ? a 2-2 draw with third-placed Vasco last week. Roots' 5-1 crushing of Devonshire All-Stars ensured they took the title in their inaugural season.

"We were a little bit disappointed not to win the title," said Paynter ? particularly when his side nearly took maximum points from Dandy Town.

Paynter said his side had the better of a 1-1 draw at St. John's Field in November. St. George's then beat Roots at Wellington Oval 4-2 in March, setting the season up for a tense few final weeks.

But draws against Pest Control and Hamilton Parish meant Roots were always in front.

"We dropped crazy points.

"But at the beginning we never dreamed we would go through the season undefeated. I don't think anyone else managed that. We always knew Dandy Town would be the biggest challenge."

But the team, which was formed back in 1982, has much to be happy about.

Paynter, who has now retired from active service, said defender Shay Pitcher had been a key signing. "He's been rock solid."

The side also contains stalwart midfielder Milton Jones, former Social Club and St. George's Colts striker Calvin Raynor and Charles (Nature) Wade.

But ultimately it has been Lionel Cann's season.

"Lionel Cann was phenomenal, he got 66 goals."

He said Cann had benefited from extra cricket training with the Bermuda national team which has got him super fit, after his football teammates stop training when daylight saving hours came in.

In his early 30s Cann has been getting on the end of pinpoint balls from his fellow cricket and football all-rounder Herbie Bascome.

"Herbie has got the ability to pretty much put the ball where he wants it ? they link up pretty well. When Herbie plays the ball we don't have a whole lot of players who can sprint and get on the end of them. But Lionel is very quick."

St. George's were demoted in 2004 after just one season in Commercial A.

The team were too easily turned over in the first half of that season but added steel later on by which time the damage had been done.

But this time around the side is keen to keep the momentum going, said Paynter.

"I have already heard players express some determination to have more impact next year with more structured training."

The team is taking a 16-man squad to Halifax in August to play in a veterans tournament.

"We might try to bolster our squad with a couple of players but I think we can hold our own in Commercial A."

Keeping squad unity will be important ? not a problem this season but more difficult when they chips are down, notes Paynter.

"When you are winning everyone comes out, when you are not you struggle. We have had a bench every single game and on the last game we didn't have enough jerseys because there were too many players."

It took a very good team to deny St. George's the title ? and that team was Dandy Town Roots.

Captain Lloyd Christopher said: "When we first entered the Commercial B we did not have any expectations about winning all our games let alone being promoted to the Commercial A. Our main focus was to enjoy the game and have fun."

Even after scoring 19 goals in the first league game the side did not have any expectations.

"However, after the next two games and scoring an additional 29 goals, our focus began to sway, as we were still having fun and outplaying the opposition.

"As the weeks went on victory after victory, we knew that the only real competitors in the division were St. George's All-stars and Vasco Mariners.

"While some of the other clubs had strong teams, they had no intention on focusing on promotion as they prefer the slower pace of Commercial B (which I do not have a problem with at all).

"By the half way stage of the season, we knew that we were going to be promoted to Commercial A, not just because we were scoring goals in abundance, but because of what has been drilled into the Dandy Town players from young, and that is a winning attitude by playing attractive football."

Christopher believes Roots will be very competitive in Commercial A. "I know that teams in A are looking forward to playing against us.

Since the 1988-89 season when Spinning Wheel Raiders won the Commercial A, Christopher said no team has been able to stop the dominance of Robin Hood and BAA as they won ten and five titles respectively, until MR Onions finally broke through this year.

"We intend to have some say as to who will win the Commercial A next season as long as the BFA tighten up the law on the age limit of 30.

"I also feel that both St. George's and the Roots will not be returning to Commercial B at the end of next season. St. George's have a few danger men but their main threat is going to be Lionel "Tit" Cann who scored an impressive 66 goals this season.

"I know teams will be saying that all they need to do is prevent Tit from scoring and then they will beat St. George's, but that is a task much easier said than done."

While both Roots and St. George's All-Stars have been gone all guns blazing to get promotion, some believe changes need to be made to the structure given the lame effort of many teams to adjust to the higher level.

This year Devonshire Rec Lions and Somerset Bridge Peskies were demoted with just 13 points between them while Lions never managed a single victory.

Lobster Pot striker Dave Allison believes changes need to be made.

"Every year there seems to be two teams that finish adrift from rest of league and I'm sure they would prefer to play in B rather than A so maybe should not make promotion automatic ? i.e. top two teams can stay in B if they want to and/or they could have a two-leg playoff at the end of the season between the bottom club in the A and the top club in B (also 2nd bottom and 2nd top if it is necessary).

This year the Commercial A had 11 teams with one team sitting it out each week.

Allison said: "I think Commercial A should be limited to ten teams.

"I read stories of teams in B showing up with handful of players and in A occasionally teams have started with only eight men. It is more likely to happen towards end of season when teams are 'out of it' but it could affect league title and/or relegation etc so this behaviour should be discouraged, maybe with a warning or two or three strikes and you're out of the league or demoted."