Boulevard Blazers captain Ian Coke is happy to deflect praise to his team despite scoring a first-half hat-trick for his team in a thrilling 4-3 win over X-Roads in the Premier Division on Wednesday night

After that victory, Coke revealed that he is one of a number of players buying into coach Jomar Wilkinson’s philosophy of instilling cohesiveness and harmony throughout the ranks.

“Team cohesion is the objective for this season and it looks like we are putting it together pretty good,” Coke told The Royal Gazette. “Finding ways to get out of trouble and finding ways to put our team back on the board is going well.”

The Pembroke club have bounced back from a disappointing start in the league to take four points from their last two games, with their latest win following a goalless draw against Devonshire Cougars, who had scored 11 goals in their previous two matches.

That result came just four days after Blazers had lost 3-1 to the same opponents in the Dudley Eve Trophy quarter-finals but, despite losing the tie, Coke said there were positives to take away from the team’s display.

“I think the first game against Cougars, even though we lost, it was somewhat of a good test for us,” he said.

“Unfortunately we did not get the result from that game but the work in progress was there and everybody showed good team spirit and camaraderie. To come back out against them again the very next game and get a draw showed the belief and the hard work within the team.”

That hard-fought stalemate secured Boulevard’s first point of the season and with confidence restored, Wilkinson’s team clinched their first league win in midweek.

“Everybody is excited for the first three points, the first of many to come hopefully,” Coke said. “This win will give us a big push and momentum going forward.

“I am finally touching the back of the net and it was a long time coming, Hopefully I can keep doing what I am doing and getting in behind and getting on the end of chances. That’s my main objective.”

Coke and his team-mates will now look to build on their momentum against bottom club Robin Hood in their next league outing on November 10 at Goose Gosling Field.

“Our next game is two weeks away and we are going into that with the hope of continuing to improve our position in the league,” Coke said..