Dandy Town won their fourth FA Cup and third trophy of the season with Rieko Trott’s early strike earning them victory over North Village in yesterday’s final at the National Sports Centre.

The main talking point of the match, however, was the moment of madness midway through the second half when referee Ronue Cann sent three players off for violent conduct.

A foul by Village’s Jason Davis on Zaire Burchall, the Town striker, turned ugly with Treadwell Gibbons, the Dandy Town goalkeeper, inexplicably deciding to charge 70 yards to get involved in the fracas, hurling himself back in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons, after last year’s Cup Match outburst.

A pair of superb saves from Gibbons had enabled Town to preserve their slim lead, but the goalkeeper completely lost his cool when he raced out of his penalty area and into the Village half to throw a punch at Davis. Burchall had flung an arm at Davis after the foul, with the Village defender then retaliating. Both players were dismissed.

When play finally resumed, Town were forced to bring on Saki Tuzo, a customary winger, as a replacement goalkeeper, with striker Tomiko Goater sacrificed.

“We wanted the win so bad and there was a lot of drama building up, and we couldn’t keep our heads,” said Brandon Minors, the Town captain.

“Because everyone wanted it so bad you lose your temper and one must remain calm and let cooler heads prevail. Hopefully that won’t happen again, we are a young team and this just shows we have some maturing to do.”

Ralph Bean Jr, the North Village coach, said: “It was two teams fighting hard for a result, wanting the win.

“In big matches emotions tend to spill over and I feel that the referee did the best that he could do in the circumstances. I thought that the incident was handled correctly.”

Larry Mussenden, the Bermuda Football Association president, admitted that the red cards cast a dark cloud over the final between the Premier Division’s top two teams.

“The incident marred the game slightly and I think there could have been some cooler heads on the field rather than what actually took place,” said Mussenden, who watched the game with Michael Dunkley, the acting Premier, and Alexis Swan, the Junior Minister for Sport.

“The game was able to continue and at the end Dandy Town are the victors and I want to congratulate them.

“I thought it was an exciting game and I am always happy when we have two top quality teams in the final.”

Added Swan: “We had a few little slip-ups towards the end. I did expect better but I do understand it was a very competitive game.

“We just have to encourage the young men to control their behaviour a little bit better. But overall it was a very good game and well done to Dandy Town.”

Town took an early lead when Mishael Paynter, Village’s stand-in goalkeeper, parried Zaire Burchall’s effort from close range and Trott tapped home the rebound.

Gibbons made an important save from a Tyrell Burgess shot at the start of the second half. Village were looking more threatening after dominating the first 25 minutes of the second half and brought on Keishen Bean for Pierre Smith to boost their attack.

They were denied again when Gibbons pulled off a brilliant save from Bean’s strike from the edge of the area.

“I thought it was going to be a close match,” Bean said. “I was actually surprised to see the two sides play so well and it was a good game in general.”

Better finishing by Village striker Jahron Dickinson in the first half could have resulted in them leading at the interval, but he fired two good chances over the bar.

Town went closest to adding a second goal midway through the second half when, from a quick break, Angelo Simmons raced through on the right and drove a low shot past the far post with two team-mates waiting inside the box for the cross.

“The double is great,” Minors added. “We knew that they would come out to play and they would bring an intensity, so we wanted to pressure them early.

“Although we went down a couple of players, we held our composure and I feel we are deserved champions.

“After going down to nine men, Jah-Quille [Stowe] and I said we would lock the defence up.”