In the wake of a crushing 2-0 season-opening loss to North Village in the Charity Cup, Devonshire Cougars are hoping to turn around their fortunes on Saturday night when they meet PHC in the Martonmere Cup opener at BAA Field (8 p.m.).

Cougars' coaches Albie Smith and Shawn Smith both concede that their team did not play as well as expected, putting down any perceived short-comings as "early season jitters''.

However, the pair strongly advise that Cougars should not be judged on that performance, stressing that with the game now behind them the team can now do nothing but move forward and build on it.

"We should have more confidence going up against PHC on Saturday night," Shawn Smith said. "Looking at the game against North Village we did create several scoring opportunities that were not taken advantage of and now we have to correct the downfalls in this area.

"One of our biggest concerns in that game was match fitness, that's what we have to really place emphasis on during training this week. If our players improve their fitness then other technical improvements to our on the field play should come our way.''

Both Cougars' coaches believe their fans should not be alarmed by their loss to Village because they say it will not be an indication of what is to come their way this season.

"We will be ready for any and all challenges that come our way this season, losing our opener is not going to dampen our spirits at all. "We have to regroup, working at sorting out areas we felt needed improvement against North Village and go forward from there,'' said Albie Smith.

"There will be many more tough games for us, that's what competition in the top league is all about. After any loss we expect to go back to training, work things out and return on the field of play to give a good account of ourselves. This applies in our very next game.''

Cougars' fans will be relieved to know that the squad sustained no injuries from the Charity Cup clash with both coaches expecting all of the same players, and some others, back for consideration for Martonmere Cup action.

Meanwhile, the Bermuda Football Association have confirmed that the second Martonmere Cup tie on Saturday, September 28, will be between Somerset Trojans and Devonshire Colts, at BAA at 8 p.m. There will be womens matches for the Konica Cup prior to both Martonmere Cup fixtures.

BFA's League and Competitions committee chairman Charles Clarke also pointed out that the attendance at the Charity Cup game was impressive and hoped that local fans will continue to show their support at the forthcoming Martonmere Cup matches.

"Saturday's turnout was excellent for the season opener and naturally the BFA would like to thank the fans for their support. I would think that we had close to 2,000 there which showed how happy they were to see soccer kick off the new season,'' he said.

"The only one negative on Saturday was when the lights went out during the interval, but we understand that Belco are already looking into the matter and will have it resolved well in advance of the Martonmere Cup.''