final whistle at Malabar field on Sunday confirmed they would be returning to the Premier Division.

And while Ireland Rangers will rue their missed opportunity to clinch a first ever spot in the top flight, Cougars know the hard work is only just beginning as they prepare to line up against just seven other teams in the trimmed down Premier Division next season.

"We're trying to take it step by step but we do need extra players,'' coach Albert Smith acknowledged yesterday, the day after his team's crucial 2-0 win.

"We need that depth and we're looking at a few players but we're not taking just anybody. We'll see what we need and go from there. In order to survive in the Premier Division you must have depth.'' Already it has been suggested that some of those additional players will come at Boulevard's expense now that the Blazers will be heading back into the First Division.

As a former Boulevard captain and coach, whose playing career ended prematurely by a leg injury, Smith is saddened by the fall of his former club, but he expects them to bounce back like other teams before them have done.

"I feel heart-broken about it,'' Smith admits. "I wasn't at the club to see what happened but it's a sad thing. They have a good youth programme and should be right back up.'' Smith only took over the coaching job at Cougars midway through the season when player-coach Shawn Smith decided to concentrate more on his playing.

"I joined them just after the Christmas break,'' Smith explained. "Shawn was playing and plus he had a junior programme so he had a lot on his shoulders and this helped relieve him a bit.'' Although Cougars were one of the favourites for the lone promotion spot, they certainly made their job more difficult by drawing 2-2 with Paget and 1-1 with St. George's in their last two matches before the weekend.

With Ireland Rangers winning their game in hand to reclaim top spot, Cougars made the long drive west on Sunday knowing that only a victory would be good enough. They never looked back after taking an early lead through captain Devon Brangman and veteran striker Philip Clarke added a second late in the first half.

"We went into the game with high intensity, knowing that our backs were up against the wall and we knew we had to play some of our best soccer,'' the coach stated.

"Our veteran players like Philip, Wali and Shawn Smith stepped it up and that helped us a lot. The first goal eased the pressure but like I said to the players `one goal is not going to win the game, we have to get two or three'.

We should have had a couple more.

"I feel we put the pressure on ourselves, we shouldn't have had to go down to that game. We should have won (promotion) long before that. The fact that we had a month's rest gave the players that laid back feeling, and plus we had a lot of games at the Rec. so we didn't have that much training.''