North Village 3 Dandy Town 2

In arguably one of the best Martonmere Cup finals since the competition began, North Village?s Jemieko Jennings stole the honours for his club yesterday ? two minutes from a penalty showdown ? in an outcome that will haunt Dandy Town, particularly ?keeper Antoine Lightbourne, for some time.

The Rams? 3-2 win at Somerset Cricket Club earned them additional bragging rights as the first team to savour a hat-trick of successive Martonmere victories.

Veteran player and new Village coach Kentoine Jennings celebrated his first piece of major silverware on the bench.

?It feels great but it?s hard watching from the sidelines. There?s a lot of tense moments like going behind with Town?s first goal and then coming back 2-1 and then Town making it two-all.

?I?m really getting to see what it feels like as a coach,? said the relieved 33-year-old as his players and fans jumped and hugged in absolute merriment.

Jennings and his opposite number, Town?s assistant coach Ju Ju Waldron, agreed it was a battle of the highest calibre and that ? though Village lifted the trophy ? football and the spectators were truly the winners.

Action and the twists and changes in the momentum were non-stop from start to finish in this pulsating Remembrance Day finale which stretched into a floodlit extra-time to produce a result.

Town fired the first salvo in the eighth minute when stand-in skipper Seyoum Tuzo headed home from a Chris Anderson corner.

As is their modus operandi, Village went on an all-out attack immediately, coming close but not close enough on several occasions. Hard-working Vernon Tankard repeatedly fed excellent passes and crosses to his team-mates up front, all of whom either failed to find the right direction or were frustrated by Lightbourne or the effect of strong breezes.

Keith Jennings again endured a miserable match and would be thankful the result was in Village?s favour as there would certainly have been more finger-pointing his way had the cup gone to St. John?s Road.

Town, too, will rue missed opportunities of increasing their scoreline when, in counter-attacking mode, their shot selection or inclination for personal rather than team glory proved their undoing many times.

The 54th-minute expulsion of Town defender Jahmiko Marshall ? for handling a goal-bound chip from Kaiwon Dill ? brought the match to a titillating juncture with Village skipper Ralph Bean Jr levelling the scores from the penalty spot.

Also, the home team now enjoyed a one-man advantage over the Hornets who refused to wilt despite only fielding ten men.

Time ticked on and with it countless chances for either team to grab the go-ahead goal but it was not to be as both goalkeepers showed their prowess in the uprights.

In the first period of extra-time the deadlock was broken, however, as Gary Augustus threaded a neat pass to Jemieko between defenders. The latter powered into the area and quickly slammed the ball diagonally across Lightbourne to clip the left post and put Village up 2-1 in the 96th minute.

The red-and-white clusters of fans erupted in celebration, optimistic this would kill off Town?s spirited fight ? but it didn?t.

Substitute striker Lloyd Holder brought the Hornets back into contention in the first minute of the second segment of extra-time with a glancing header inside the back post from a Carlos Smith corner.

Determined not to be undone in defence, Town were clearly content to sacrifice their attacking potential to keep men at the back and take their chances in a penalty shoot-out as Village continued sweeping forward.

Two minutes from the whistle, though, the Hornets? hard work was was unravelled in a most-nightmarish conclusion as a seemingly innocuous shot by Jemieko, from the edge of the area, somehow squirted under Lightbourne?s thick body as he dived to his right to save.

Wide-eyed in amazement Village?s double-goal hero ran to embrace spectators near the clubhouse as Town?s players slumped to the turf in disbelief. His head hung low, Lightbourne could not bare to face his team-mates.

Yet assistant coach Waldron ? leading the league champions in Devarr Boyles? absence ? hailed the Hornets? effort.

?I am not ashamed of my team in no way, shape or form. They showed great character.

?We lost a man but we dug in and pulled a goal back. I?m proud of my team. It was a learning experience but I can?t be disappointed with them.

?Football was really the winner here. The people got a great final.?

The Town official refused to come down hard on Lightbourne for his costly error.

?Our goalkeeper had a good game. He worked hard but that?s how sport is. Sometimes things like that happen but we?re not going to knock him. We win, lose and draw together. We just have to bounce back,? he said congratulating Village.

Kentoine disclosed that he kept stressing that his players not become complacent though boasting a numerical advantage.

?We have a tendency, when we?re a man up, to bring our level down and that?s what I warned them about when we were going into extra-time.

?I told them ?Look, don?t let us lose to another ten-man team today. Let?s do what we have to do?.

?We had a lot of possession and we controlled most of the game after Town?s man was sent off,? he said, admitting that he was already thinking about penalties when his cousin curtailed that likelihood.

North Village: Z.Hendrickson, G.Augustus (J.Boyles, 113 mins), S.Goater (D.Wade, 69 mins), M.Hansey, Kofi Dill, T.Outerbridge, K.Dill (Kevin Jennings, 63 mins), J.Jennings, K.Jennings, R.Bean Jr, V.Tankard.

Dandy Town: A.Lightbourne, J.Marshall, D.Lawler, M.Lowe, C.Anderson, D.Zuill, S.Tuzo (J.Peniston, 80 mins), O.Steede (L.Holder, 93 mins), C.Smith, K.Smith, L.Dill (L.Furbert, 63 mins).

Red card: J.Marshall (54 mins; Dandy Town).

Yellow card: G.Augustus, T.Outerbridge, J.Jennings (North Village); C.Smith, L.Holder (Dandy Town).

Men of the Match: V.Tankard (North Village); D.Lawler (Dandy Town).

Referee: A.Mouchette.