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Beach breaks Village hearts with late winner

Raymond Beach (left) celebrates his winner against North Village with Jamal Swan at St. John's Field yesterday. Hornets won their FA Cup second round replay 2-1.

Dandy Town 2North Village 1Dandy Town striker Raymond Beach rediscovered his goalscoring touch to boot North Village out of the FA Cup at St. John's Field yesterday.Beach has not been as prolific in front of goal as previous seasons but showed he still has the killer instinct by grabbing a 87th minute winner in the second round replay.His coach Jomar Wilkinson said he knew it was only a matter of time before his lethal marksman struck again.“Packy made the difference for us today,” said Wilkinson. “We knew he'd be scoring again soon and he showed he is still a top finisher.”Town seem to be Village's bogey team this season having beaten them in the league at Bernard Park when Beach struck a brace in a 2-1 win. They also held the league leaders to a 1-1 draw away last month to force yesterday's FA replay.Wilkinson now hopes Hornets can peg Village back in the league and admits that Shaun Goater's team has brought the sting out of the Hornets so far this term.“I don't know what it is but we always seem to be up for the Village games, we seem to play our best football against them,” he said. “We've played them a few times this season and they're always entertaining matches.”Both teams were struggling to get to grips with the slippery conditions during the early stages of the first half but it was Village who opened the scoring in the 34th minute through defender Devrae Tankard with a header from a Sammy DeGraff corner kick.But the visitor's lead did not last long with Town equalising three minutes later when Dashun Butterfield scrambled home a Damon Ming flag kick.Further chances went begging before the interval with Rams striker Pierre Smith crashing a long range shot against the woodwork, while Beach was also presented with the kind of chance he normally thrives upon but dragged his effort well wide.Both teams continued to squander gilt-edge scoring opportunities with Hornets' Jared Peniston missing the easiest chance of game early in the second half.Peniston, who was involved in a heated slanging match with his own team-mate Fabian Frankson during the first period, hit the crossbar from the edge of the six-yard box when it appeared to be easier to score than miss.At the other end, DeGraff volleyed straight at Hornets goalkeeper Daniel Johnson from point blank range, before Sean Fubler, deployed in a unfamiliar striker's role, found Jason Lee at the back post but with the goal at his mercy the young striker's touch let him down.Village were agonisingly close to finding the winner when second half substitute Keishen Bean struck a sweet volley which drifted just inches over the bar.With the game seemingly heading into extra-time it was Beach who was in the right place at the right time to pounce on a Damon Ming cross to extinguish Village's FA Cup ambitions.Dandy Town: D. Johnson, K. Tucker, G. Dyer, D. Butterfield (S. Burchall, 72), J.Peniston, J. Swan, D. Ming, F. Frankson, K. Hurdle (H. Wolfe, 80), R. BeachSubstitutes not used: Z. Antoine, D. WellmanGoals: Butterfield, 37, Beach, 87North Village: J. Williams, D. Tankard, J. Sousa, K. Dill, V. Tankard, T. Watson (K. Bean, 54) , T. Burgess, S. DeGraff, J. Boyles (V. Tankard, 78), S. Fubler, J. LeeSubstitutes not used: R. Robinson, J. Briers, S. JenningsGoals: D. Tankard (Village)Referee: A. MouchetteMan of the match: G. Dyer

North Village's Jason Lee (left) is tackled by Dandy Town's Fabian Frankson.