When I took the coaching job at Cleveland I told them to give me three years as coach and we will win the Eastern Counties.

This past Eastern Counties was my third year and is probably the toughest lost that I have had to endure during my entire playing career. I truly thought that I had pulled off a Muhammad Ali with my prediction, but it wasn't to be.

The buzz that was generated by bowling St.David's out for a mere 149 runs was like no other that I had felt in cricket before in Bermuda.

Never in my whole career had I been so nervous or excited. The writing was on the wall I just new that my Cleveland boys would finally pull it off. The rest is history!

Having coached at St.David's in the past I can tell you they prize the Eastern Counties trophy more then any other trophy because of its rich history. So I knew taking that trophy away was still going to be a major task even after we had bowled them out.

What I knew, but I don't think my team knew, was that when you are a champion you know and find ways to win even when you are not playing well and that's exactly what St.David's did. St.David's over that past seven years have developed a winning mentality whereby regardless of how bleak a situation may seem they always believe that they can win.

Personally, that is where I want to get Cleveland and truthfully I thought they had arrived at that point.

Going to England prior to Eastern County was a big help. It boosted player confidence and built up team moral. What we (Cleveland) learned is that there are two sides to cricket ¿ batting and bowling.

Over the past few days I have heard all the excuses in the book from various people on the Island. Oh, why did you guys use the heavy roller on the wicket, and why didn't so and so open bat?

We as players and coaches make no excuses for that lose, we just simply did not apply ourselves and did not stick to the plan of winning it by picking up singles.

I really feel the need to apologise to all the Cleveland fans for letting you down. I know you are deflated just like us, but continue to stick by your team. Trust me they are close to doing something special for you.

I can assure you we didn't lose because of lack of effort, or lack of desire. We simply have to give credit where credit is due. We were beaten by one of Bermuda's best spinners in Delyone Borden.

My boys have really taken this lose to heart it has dented their spirits tremendously. Cricket though builds character and I am positive they will bounce back.

We have two big games this weekend and I will be looking for the team to redeem themselves.

At the beginning of the year I did not make winning Eastern Counties one of our goals because I didn't want it to be a distraction all year like it has been the past two seasons.

Our focus is the league and right now we are currently in third, but we have Social Club and Rangers to play. We want to finish in the top four so we can gain a Belco Cup spot for next year, but if we can win both of those games the league title is still a possibility.

Turning to the league title race it looks like Social Club and Rangers are trying to make me eat my words as they close in on the league title. While at the other end of the table my former club St.George's are in a battle with Somerset to avoid relegation.

My guess is that St.George's will avoid the drop simply because like St.David's they too have a winning mentality and when the going gets tough they find ways to win and survive. If there is one lesson to take from all of this it's that in sports the game is never over until it's over.

My dad taught me a valuable lesson when I was six-years-old. I saw him playing ping-pong and he was losing 19-11 and I said dad this game is over. He ended up winning the game 21-19 and he turned to me as a kid and told me that it's never over until it's over, never give up and never count your opponents out until you have won the game.

To my Cleveland fans I will leave you with this motto for words of encouragement.

Motto for the week: Most people achieved their greatest success one step beyond what looked like their greatest failure - Brian Tracey.