North Village 1 Devonshire Colts 0

Jonté Smith produced the only real moment of quality to secure North Village a scrappy Friendship Trophy semi-final victory over Devonshire Colts at a blustery PHC Field on Saturday night.

The striker fired in the only goal of a feisty battle ten minutes into the second half to set up a tasty Friendship final rematch with Premier Division leaders Dandy Town on New Year’s Day.

This match-up of two powerhouses was very cagey, with both sides deploying a team press to disrupt the other’s possession.

Village shaded a bitty first half, in which the red and white held the advantage of playing in front of the wind, but they failed to really test the resolute Colts defence.

Smith nearly made the breakthrough midway through the first half. Seke Spence played London Steede through in the left channel, who squared for Smith to take a shot at goal. Colts keeper Jaden Mills-Furbert was equal to it and made a reflex save before Spence skied the rebound.

Colts never really threatened the North Village defence thanks in large part to the poor conditions and a lack of conviction in the final third. Jahzardae Samuels whipped a couple of free kicks into the breeze towards goal, but neither troubled Village goalkeeper, captain Detre Bell.

Smith was at the heart of everything good that Village brought to their attack. He held up the ball to begin the move for their next chance and spread the play for Knory Scott on the right. Scott picked his head up for options and cut back for Spence to curl an effort into the wind just over the crossbar.

The first half, which was dominated by a tense midfield battle, ended on level terms with Village by far the more threatening and likely to open the scoring.

Village found the winning goal ten minutes into the second half when Knory Scott, Spence and Steede combined on the left before the latter drove a perfect cross into the box for the arriving Smith to sidefoot home.

Colts needed a fresh dynamic to their attack, so replaced striker Sage Blair-Paynter with versatile forward Daniel Ball. This offered a threat in behind and stretched the pitch, forcing Village to drop their defensive line slightly for the final half-hour.

Despite making the tactical switch, Colts remained second best. Scott should have killed off the game for Village a few minutes after the opener, missing the target from just inside the penalty area.

Steede and Smith missed further chances to bring more comfort to the reigning Premier Division champions, but Village were not tested enough.

Ball clipped a good ball forward for Senoj Mitchell, but the attacker could not beat defender Jalen Harvey.

Village winger Jordan Outerbridge galloped down the right toward the end of the game and fed Smith, whose cross evaded everyone.

Scorers

North Village: Smith 55

TEAMS

North Village (4-2-3-1): D Bell 6 ― Q Outerbridge 6, J Harvey 7, K Knights 6, C Caisey 6 ― S Spence 6 (sub: C Easton-Smith, 74min), T Williams 6 ― L Steede 6 (sub: J Smith-Deshields, 74), K Scott 7, J Outerbridge 6 ― J Smith 7. Substitutes not used: A Brangman-Johnson, A Santos, P Smith, M Paynter, A Deshields. Booked: Caisey, Williams, Easton-Smith, Dill Jr (coach).

Devonshire Colts (4-2-3-1): J Mills-Furbert 6 ― M Isaac 6, J Dublin 6, D Davis 6, S Burgess 6 ― J Samuels 5 (sub: J Bean-Lindo, 87), Z Burgess 5 ― S Mitchell 6, C Henry 5, S Blair-Paynter 5 (sub: D Ball, 58 6) ― E Darrell 5. Substitutes not used: J Paynter, D Richardson, J Saunders, F Lema, A van Duyne. Booked: Dublin, K Lewis.

Referee: A Majors