Almost written off after a brutal September and October, Town closed out November with a four-game win streak and suddenly find themselves in third place in the Coca Cola First Division soccer standings.

Sunday's 5-2 victory over PHC was their fifth in eight matches, boosting them to within four points of front-running Vasco and just one of Boulevard.

A win over the Blazers this Sunday and Town will head into the Christmas break in second place -- a surprise, perhaps, to every one but coach Mark Trott and his players.

"I believe in the players' attitude,'' Trott said after Sunday's one-sided win over PHC. "These guys never quit and once they get focused, you can see the performance they're capable of.'' "You've just got too many (good) teams and you've got to come prepared to play every match. If you don't, there's going to problems.'' That realisation, some timely finishing from strikers Darron Simons and Reggie Tucker, and a consistent line-up are what have turned the season around, Trott said.

Even with injuries to key starters such as Neil Paynter and Carlos Smith, Town have scored a league-high 19 goals, 15 of them coming in the last four matches.

"That was our biggest problem earlier,'' said Trott. "Ones we should've scored we didn't.'' Simons, who struggled early in the season, netted three goals on Sunday and set up Tucker for the other two, giving him nine for the season, eight of them in league play.

Paynter (ankle) and Smith (groin) are day-to-day but Trott said the team were "not trying to race them back.'' And that ability to deal with injuries and suspensions (Chris Martin missed Sunday's match because of card accumulation) could set Town apart in the New Year because they just might have the deepest team in the league.

"I think the biggest problem is that we have a lot of very good players and it's hard picking 16 every week,'' said Trott. "But it's a good thing being in that position rather than the opposite headache where you're fighting to put a team on the pitch.'' DARRON SIMONS -- his goals have sparked a Dandy Town revival.