PHC coach Kyle Lightbourne has refused to be overly downcast following his team's capitulation at the weekend and is confident they can return to winning ways tonight.

Zebras were crushed 7-1 by North Village on Sunday but can draw level on points with the Premier Division league leaders if they win their game in hand against lowly Somerset Eagles at Somerset Cricket Club.

Lightbourne believes his side were largely the masters of their own destruction on a mud bath of a pitch at Bernard Park, but praised Shaun Goater's Village for adapting to the difficult –conditions far better than PHC.

“It was one of those games and North Village played well on the day whereas we didn't play well, didn't deal with the conditions and they deserved the victory,” said Lightbourne.

“For some reason we tried to play football in bad areas and they punished us. The ball was sticking and stopping in certain areas and we were still trying to pass it out and, to be fair, they took full advantage of our bad decisions.”

PHC had been unbeaten in the league prior to Sunday's thrashing and Lightbourne believes it is important for his team to build on their promising start to the season and put their recent hefty reverse into perspective.

“We haven't won anything yet but we have had a pretty good start to the season and there's still a long way to go. Sunday was a setback and we have to come out fighting again tomorrow against –Eagles because a win will put us tied with Village at the top.

“Every team has a rough patch and if this is going to be ours then we'll take it and move on.

“We'll train tonight (Tuesday) and get the guys upbeat for tomorrow (Wednesday).”

Tonight's opponents Eagles may have only won two of their eight league games this season but Lightbourne knows they are a talented young team that can ill afford to be taken lightly.

“(Eagles) have got some talented players and have been struggling for points but they have been close in a lot of games and have not been blown away,” he said.

“It will be a tough game for us.”

PHC take on Eagles at –9pm, while Somerset Trojans face Ireland Rangers in the First Division at 7pm. Both games will be held at Somerset Cricket Club.