and Friday's Dudley Eve clash should be no exception as North Village and Devonshire Colts battle in the semi-final at St. David's (2.30 p.m.).

At stake will be a place in the 20th Dudley Eve final against Vasco on December 28 and New Year's Day.

The competition began in 1978 in memory of the former BFA Director and these two teams were the first finalists and the first two winners... Colts beating Village in the first final and then Village beating Somerset the following year.

However, it has been a decade since either of the teams have won the trophy, though both have reached the final in the last few years. Village got there in 1993-94 when they lost to Dandy Town while Colts were last year's losing finalists, going down to PHC.

As he watched Colts' match with Boulevard on Sunday, which Colts won 2-0, Village coach Kenny Thompson predicted an exciting match between Colts and Village this Friday when plenty will be at stake.

"It should make for an exciting game, with the way Colts are playing and our own style of play,'' said Thompson, whose own team were denied the quick route to the final after losing to Vasco.

Now while Vasco have time to rest until Sunday, Village and Colts -- with one loss each -- face a do or die situation.

"We get another chance,'' said Thompson with some relief on the weekend.

"We would have liked to have gone straight to the final, as all four teams would like to do, but now we have to do it on Friday. We just have to pick ourselves up and prepare for Friday.

"I thought we did enough to win the game, it was an unfortunate goal we conceded in the second half.'' It would seem that the team getting to the final first has a distinct advantage in that they get chance to rest. But the extra game did not work against PHC last year as they played three games in six days and still managed to beat Colts 2-0 on aggregate in the final.

Colts and Village met in the first round of the tournament with Village winning by the odd goal to avenge their recent loss to Colts in the Friendship Trophy which they were defending. That match was also decided by a one-goal margin and indications are Friday's game could be just as close.

In the 12.30 opener Boulevard will meet Somerset in the semi-final of the Junior Premier Shell Shield Cup. The other semi-final will be held on Sunday ahead of the Dudley Eve final and will be between PHC and Dandy Town at Bernard Park. The winners will meet in the final on New Year's Day at Wellington Oval.

The Premier Cup quarter-finals last weekend saw Somerset beat an East Select 3-2, PHC stop North Village 4-0, Boulevard hammer Devonshire Colts 10-2 and Dandy Town win by default over Southampton Rangers.