Devonshire Rec. when the first round matches are held.

PHC, last year's winners of the popular Christmas tournament, failed to qualify as one of the top four teams in the standings at the halfway stage of the season, leaving league leaders Vasco, Boulevard, North Village and Devonshire Colts to battle for the vacated crown.

Colts lost to the Zebras 2-0 on aggregate in the two-leg final a year ago and will be looking to make amends this time around.

Colts will take on North Village in the 7.00 opener while the feature match will see Vasco playing Boulevard for the first time since the Martonmere Cup final last month. It should be two evenly balanced match-ups.

"It's four good teams so it should be an exciting tournament for the fans,'' predicted Colts captain and defensive stalwart Shannon Burgess.

Colts' priority is to retain the league title they won last year and, considering they have not reached top form yet, will use this competition to kick start their season. "We haven't been playing that well recently so if anything we'll use this tournament to get us prepared for the second half of the season,'' said the skipper. "We have a few college guys back (Quincy Aberdeen, Sullivan Phillips and Jermaine Aberdeen) so we'll see if we can get them in to give a few guys a rest. The league is much more important and we need to use this to build up the momentum.'' Most teams welcome the break over the holidays but some teams see the extra competition as vital for the second half of the campaign. It also helps to work off the turkey and cassava pie. "If we don't pick up any major injuries I think we will benefit more from it to stay sharp,'' said Burgess.

The competition being what it is, the draw doesn't seem to favour any one particular team. Teams losing tonight will still get one more chance to stay in the competition, while the first one to the final has the benefit of resting while an extra match is played to determine their opponents.

Last year, Colts got by Vasco, one of the strongest teams, in the first round and they would no doubt prefer to meet them in the winners' bracket rather than the losers' bracket when one team will be eliminated.

The winner of the Vasco-Boulevard match should be favoured to win the trophy.

Both teams have plenty of firepower. The Boulevard attack is led by the likes of Dwight Warren, Rodney Bascome, Stevie Wade and Kenny Hill while Vasco will count on the experienced Sammy Swan to lead their attack along with Clay Smith, Dwight Basden and Ascento Russell, who scored the Friendship Trophy winner recently against Dandy Town.

The semi-finals and final of the Premier Shell Shield Cup will be played ahead of later round matches in the Dudley Eve Competition.

It is an under 21 tournament which is open to any player who turned 21 after August 31 of this year. College players such as Blenn Bean, Jay Smith and Damon Ming are likely to see action while Southampton Rangers' top scorer Rohaan Simons is also eligible.

Four quarter-final matches will be held on Saturday -- Somerset v an East Select, Southampton Rangers v Dandy Town, Boulevard v Dev. Colts and PHC v North Village. Wolves declined to participate so as not to pick up injuries and suspensions and disrupt their promotion push, so the eighth team will be a combined St. George's and St. David's team. The semi-finals will be held on Boxing Day and December 28 at St. David's and Bernard Park, ahead of the Dudley Eve semi-final and the first of the two-leg final.

CHRISTMAS EVE -- Shannon Burgess (right) and the Devonshire Colts -- seen during last year's Dudley Eve final against PHC -- launch this year's tourney tonight.