Devonshire Colts reached their 10th FA Cup final yesterday when a goal from 21-year-old midfielder Sekai Waldron midway through the second half settled an often lacklustre semi-final at Bernard Park.

The 71st-minute strike came after a series of one touches by Colts on the edge of the Cougars penalty area resulted in Waldron latching onto a loss ball just inside the box and driving a first time left-foot shot low into the far corner of Tori Henry's goal.

The goal came during a period when Colts had taken the upper hand as their midfield started to take control. Colts started to create more chances from the start of the second half when the Cougars defence started to buckle under pressure.

Cougars suffered a setback when defender Kenneth Swan was injured himself in a challenge on Keishon Smith and needed treatment. He never fully recovered and was eventually replaced by Sheldon Caisey.

Eight minutes after his departure, Colts capitalised when a move down the middle opened the Cougars defence for Waldron.

Ray came close to adding a second seven minutes later when he worked a one-two with Waldron to get through the Cougars defence and into the box before putting his shot against the near post with Henry beaten.

Cougars made a couple of late changes up front in a bid to force an equaliser as Devon Brangman replaced Phillip Clarke and Preston Mallory came on for Sergio Goater.

Cougars had a slight edge in the first half as they came more into it late in the half. However, their main threats, Clarke and Aljame Zuill, a former Colts player, were kept quiet by tight marking by Makonnen Hollis and Shannon Burgess. Derek Wright and Jahmah Samuels filled in adequately in the fullback positions in the absence of brothers Jermaine and Jermel Belboda who are away with the Regiment.

"We felt Makonnen would fare well against Phillip and I thought I would do well against whoever was up there and Aljame happened to be up there,'' said captain Shannon Burgess.

Henry appeared suspect under early pressure as a bouncing ball went over his head before being cleared for a corner.

Henry lost his cool during another Colts raid when Keishon Smith challenged him for a loose ball and Henry quickly reacted as the players squared up.

Referee Lyndon Raynor eased the tension by speaking to both players.

Late in the half Cougars enjoyed their best spell when captain Wali Salaam, who had a quiet game in midfield tested Troy Hall in the Colts goal with a long range shot that he parried. With the last kick of the first half Goater's cross from the left just missed the far post with no one following up.

"Our midfield didn't get involved in the first half,'' admitted Burgess.

"Mark (Ray) didn't have too sharp a first half and when he stepped it up he was able to dictate the midfield. Vic (Ball) picked his game up and he was able to get Sully (Sullivan Phillips) more into the game in the second half and we were able to create the chances.

"I think if we had put one or two more chances away we would have relaxed more and knocked the ball around. In an FA semi-final sometimes you don't want to take as many chances because it's a knockout thing.'' It is uncertain who Colts' opponents in the April final will be -- Vasco or North Village -- but they will have to play better than they did yesterday if they are to win the Cup for the first time in 24 years.

"It is two good teams and I would rather play a good team because that's when we tend to play better. There's not a preference,'' said Burgess.

Colts: T.Hall, D.Wright, S.Burgess, M.Hollis, J.Samuels, M.Ray, S.Waldron, V.Ball, K.Smith, T.Smith, S.Phillips (K.Lawrence 75min).

Cougars: T.Henry, J.Thomas, K.Swan (S.Caisey 67min), S.Smith, M.Dill, G.Dyer, G.Butterfield, W.Salaam, S.Goater (P.Mallory 84min), A.Zuill, P.Clarke (D.Brangman 79min).

Referee: Lyndon Raynor.

Men of the match: Shannon Burgess (Colts), Maxwell Dill (Cougars).