North Village 4 Devonshire Cougars 1

North Village have one foot in the Dudley Eve Trophy semi-finals after brushing aside Devonshire Cougars in a group B match at Goose Gosling Field yesterday.

Nacori Smith put Village ahead in the 38th minute before Thomas Watson doubled their lead with another composed finish on the stroke of half-time.

Village pulled further ahead in the 58th minute when Watson grabbed a second to make it 3-0.

Cougars finally opened their account through a goal from Mark Steede ten minutes later before substitute Demetre Daniels blasted home in the 81st minute to restore Village’s three-goal advantage.

The result sent Village to the top of the group B table and all but through to the last four with one game remaining against Robin Hood.

Cougars dominated the early exchanges and went agonisingly close when striker Steede’s header from Charmori Burns’s corner sailed inches over.

Pierre Smith, the Village goalkeeper, then raced off his line to courageously gather the ball off the boot of Steede as he shaped up to shoot.

After a slow start, Village showed signs of life with striker Keishen Bean volleying just wide after being allowed time and space.

Smith broke the deadlock when he kept his cool after being played through by Watson and rolled the ball under the advancing Xyon Outerbridge-Smith, the Cougars goalkeeper, to put Village ahead against the run of play.

The game was held up for several minutes while Outerbridge-Smith received treatment for heat exhaustion.

Watson went from provider to scorer shortly after play resumed when he controlled Shayne Hollis’s diagonal pass, rounded the goalkeeper and slotted into the net to put Village in full control.

Cougars were forced to make a substitution on the hour mark after the sweltering heat again took its toll on Outerbridge-Smith, who was replaced by Menelik Rudo.

Watson made it 3-0 for a now rampant Village near the hour mark when he squeezed Smith’s corner inside the far post.

Steede pulled one back for Cougars after Village’s defence switched off momentarily.

But any thoughts Cougars had of making further inroads were dashed when substitute Daniels beat Rudo at the near post with a right-footed shot.

TEAMS

North Village (4-4-2): P Smith — J Harvey, Z Bowen (sub: D Daniels, 45min), T Wilson, K Knights — P Parsons, J Davis (sub: J Bell, 85), T Watson, S Hollis — N Smith (sub: E Zuill, 73), K Bean. Booked: Hollis. Substitutes not used: P Castle, Q Outerbridge.

Devonshire Cougars(4-5-1): X Outerbridge-Smith (sub: M Rudo, 60) — Z Simmons, Zekiro White, Zeko White, D Williams, J Smith — M Thomas, M Battersbee, C Burns, C Brangman (sub: Z Simmons, 58) — M Steede (sub: C Albouy, 80). Booked: Smith, Zeko White, Z Simmons (sub). Substitutes not used: N Simmons, K Franks, J Mallory, K Steede.

Referee: G Swainson.