Somerset Trojans 3

Boulevard Blazers 0

Somerset Trojans secured safe passage to the semi-finals of the FA Cup but not before having to sweat it out against First Division leaders Boulevard in the FA Cup quarter-final at Somerset Cricket Club.

The final scoreline did Boulevard scant justice as they matched Trojans in every department with a brand of football that demonstrated just how narrow the gulf between Premier and First Division football has become.

In the end, poor defending by the visiting side would prove their undoing as three unanswered second-half goals from Trojans trio Leo Burgess, Jaz Ratteray-Smith and Sean Brangman finally put the game to bed.

Victory, however, did not come without a cost for the home side who lost the services of Alton Trott, the midfielder, who sustained a nasty cut above his left eye and was carted away by ambulance to hospital.

Incidentally, the mishap, which held play up for several minutes, occurred in the thirteenth minute when Trott and Boulevard forward Nico Smith clashed heads during an aerial duel for a loose ball in midfield.

Trojans went straight for the jugular from the kick off and bombarded Boulevard’s goal in search of an opener.

The home team went close to opening their account when Burgess got behind the defence and then watched in agony as his perfectly measured cross in the middle went untouched.

Despite defending for long spells Boulevard kept their shape and with each sojourn into Trojans’ territory grew in confidence.

The visiting side tormented Trojans with the long ball and were unfortunate not to break the deadlock when Ian Coke, the Boulevard forward, stung the palms of Shaquille Bean, the Somerset goalkeeper, with a blast from an angle the latter palmed around the near post.

From the resulting corner kick Bean was forced into action again, this time palming away a threatening inswinger to keep Boulevard at bay.

The best chance of the opening stanza fell to Trojans just before the interval. Burgess rolled two defenders and pulled the ball back only to see Justin Corday, the Trojans midfielder, miskick with the goal at his mercy.

The breakthrough Trojans so desperately sought finally arrived close to the hour mark and owed much to a mental lapse by the Boulevard defence than anything else.

The visiting side failed to clear their lines on a quick break down the middle, Burgess intercepting the loose ball, side stepping the goalkeeper and rolling it into the empty net.

Before Boulevard could reorganise themselves Trojans nearly stretched their lead on another quick break that caught their opponents on the back foot. On the field for just seconds, Trojans substitute Antione Seaman had a tame shot saved off the line after Burgess picked out his teammate at the back post.

Trojans were in the ascendancy and they finally put the game further beyond Boulevard’s reach with two goals inside of four minutes.

Simons squeezed a shot in from a tight angle that took a deflection and went in off the far post.

Before the dust had settled Brangman finished with aplomb right on the stroke of full time to rub more salt into the wounds.