CONFIDENT they should be after beating North Village in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup, but First Division side St. George’s Colts will understandably be a little cautious too as they await the semi-final draw. The east enders are the odd team in the last four — the only one never to have reached the FA Cup final. The other three have all won the cup 17 times between them, from nine-time winners Somerset Trojans who disposed of new league champions and the form team, Devonshire Cougars, in their quarter-final replay on Tuesday night, to four-time winners Devonshire Colts and Boulevard.

St. George’s have reached the semi-finals on three other occasions, the last in 1995 when they lost to a controversial late goal by Devonshire Cougars at White Hill Field. That defeat was hard to swallow but now they have a chance to make amends.

When it comes to winning major football trophies St. George’s can only boast about a Friendship triumph in 1995-96 when they beat Devonshire Colts 1-0 in the final. Nine years earlier they lost 4-3 to PHC in the Friendship final at PHC Stadium.

After Sunday’s 3-1 victory away to Village — one of the biggest upsets of the season — the feeling is this could be Colts’ year . . . if they get past the major hurdle that is the semi-final. The draw could be important, though not necessarily so as few people gave them much of a chance against the Rams. Veteran defender and club president Neil Paynter isn’t expressing a preference for an opponent . . . at least not publicly.

“Every team that’s there deserves to be there,” said Paynter, the day after Somerset disposed of Cougars in their replay.

“To say we want this team or that team, I don’t even want to make that prediction. We’re just happy to be there and whoever we get we just have to put the work in. Yes we’re confident, we just have to take one game at a time.

Paynter started the season as player-coach but handed over the reigns to Carlos Greaves in January.

“All I can say is we just have to prepare for it and do our best on the day and hope that we’ll be successful,” he says.

“When we played Cougars (1995) I was the coach then and in the other semi-final against Dandy Town that we lost I was a player then. We lost 3-2 in extra time at Bernard Park.”

After victory over Premier Division side Paget, club official Kenny Foggo boldly predicted a St. George’s upset over Village when the quarter-final draw was made. But considering the gulf between the teams — Village second in the league while St. George’s finished in the bottom half of the First Division — the result was surprising as Village failed to retain any of their trophies from last season.

“If you had asked me before the game if would we would have won by that margin I probably would have said no but as the game progressed I was pleased and thought we deserved that 3-1 win,” said Paynter, who played in a losing FA Cup final with Dandy Town.

The team started the season as one of the promotion favourites but quickly lost ground on the pacesetters Ireland Rangers and Devonshire Colts. Even reaching the FA final will represent a major achievement for the team and would be a tremendous boost for the community and the young team.

“We really didn’t put the time in to be successful in the league, to be honest with ourselves,” said Paynter, referring to early-season training.

“But we do have a young team — every player on the team I’ve coached at one point or another — and it bodes well for the future. I just hope this can inspire them not only to get to the final but for next year, whether we make it to this final or not.

“To get to the final would be excellent, to win it would be great. Even for us to come this far, I’m very pleased but at the end of the day we have the opportunity and I hope that we can seize it. To get there would be a momentous achievement, not only for the club but the community.”

[bul] Because of the tour match on Sunday between Bermuda and Canada, the end of season schedule has been pushed back one week. The Commercial KO Cup, Friendship and Shield finals, which were to be held on Sunday, will now take place on Sunday, April 1. The two FA Cup semi-finals will now be played on Sunday, April 8 and Sunday, April 15 respectively followed by the Under-18 KO Cup and FA Cup Finals on Sunday, April 22.

Somerset and Devonshire Cougars, who met in the Dudley Eve final which the Trojans won, will meet one last time this season in the Friendship final. Cougars are chasing a third title to go with the Martonmere Cup and league.

Also looking to add to their league title are Devonshire Colts who will be aiming to wrap up the First Division and Shield titles, when they meet Southampton Rangers in the Shield final. After that they will be hoping for FA Cup semi-final success as one of two First Division teams in the last four.