North Village 0 Robin Hood 0

Robin Hood goalkeeper Jason Simons hailed his side's grit and determination as they held high flying Premier Division side North Village Rams to a hard fought 0-0 draw at BAA Field yesterday.

The First Division new boys did what was necessary to get a favourable result against their more glamorous opponents, although they were forced to defend for long spells of the match.

Simons, who was the busiest man on the pitch, was pleased with how his team-mates went about their job, sealing a replay.

"It was a good game, well defended on our part, we played as a team and got a good result for this," said Simons. "We kept our shape and didn't allow ourselves to get stretched, something that we have been doing all year."

From the outset the visitors stamped their authority on the match, spreading the ball around the whole park, looking for an opening that would put them up early and edge them closer to the semi-finals.

Ralph Bean jr., Kofi Dill and skipper Sammy Degraffe all had opportunities to put Village ahead in the opening 30 minutes but weren't accurate enough to really bother Simons in goal.

Simons' brother, Steven, was the only real threat for Hood as they sat entrenched in their half and only managed two raids on North Village goalkeeper Jason Williams' net.

Centre back Gary Ray almost gave Rams fans a shock just before the half when he rose up to head a corner on target which was blocked, while Steven Simons also had an effort on goal saved by Williams.

The second half followed the same trend as the first with Village having the lions share of possession and Hood quite happy to allow them to have it and close down all avenues that could unlock them defensively.

Village thought they had a way to break the deadlock when Bean was bought down in the box by Ray, but referee Anthony Mouchette was in a good position to view the challenge and allowed play to continue.

On the ensuing play, Simons almost went from hero to villain when he let a Jason Lee cut-back slip through his hands and to the feet of Bean who saw his close range effort blocked behind for a corner.

Even Bermuda's most recognised footballer, Shaun Goater, who came off the bench, couldn't find the all important goal that would see his side through.

Hood midfielder Tom Cusack almost ripped up the form book in one of their rare attacks in the match as his diving header attempt went agonisingly wide with Williams going in the opposite direction.

In the dying stages, Simons had to make one more stop, and perhaps the save of the game, when he pushed over a Pierre Smith curling effort as the shot seemed destined for the back of the net.

A replay will now decide who advances to the semi-finals with Simons noting that his men will use the same endeavour that was on display yesterday when the two sides meet again.

"We knew it would be a test but we did what was needed, we played as a team, stayed compact and did what our coach Andrew (Bascome) has been telling us all year.

"I think I had a pretty good game, I could use my voice a little more, but overall I thought it was ok.

"We will go to Bernard Park and approach that match just how we did this one, focused and determined.

"If we can play the same the way we did today in the replay, we should have a good chance to go through."

North VIllage: J.Williams, K.Dill, S.Fubler, D.Tankard, T.Watson, T.Fray (P.Smith,45 mins), J.Briers, J.Lee (S.Goater, 72mins), S.Degraffe, R.Bean, J.Boyles

Subs not used: M.Armstrong, J.Sousa, V.Tankard

Robin Hood: S.Simons, D.Wolffe, M.Watson, T.Cusack, G.Mckellar, K.Robinson, T.Terceira, D.Outerbridge, S.Simons, M.Hunt, G.Ray

Subs not used: N.Grant, J.Lovell, A.Lugo, M.Dias, F.Elkarfa

Yellow card: D.Wolffe

Referee: A.Mouchette

Man of the Match: M.Hunt