St George’s Colts 1 North Village 2 (AET)

Amir Dill came off the bench and grabbed a dramatic extra-time winner to send holders North Village through to a fourth straight FA Cup final at PHC Field on Sunday.

The 20-year-old wing back settled this cagey semi-final against St George’s with an exquisite finish to keep his team’s bid for an unprecedented twelfth FA Cup title on track.

Knory Scott scored Village’s other goal in the second half of regulation time with a brilliant finish of his own to cancel out Blaiz Hall’s first half strike and set the stage for Dill’s late heroics.

Village coach Cal “Patches” Dill was overcome with joy after the final whistle.

“Kudos to my players,” he told The Royal Gazette.

“They put the work in through the week and got what they deserve. I thought first half we didn’t put any energy into the game, so me and the coaches told them to up the energy at the half, and this is the result we got.

“Two beautiful goals and that’s natural for Knory and Amir to do things like that. It was encouraging to see them shooting because usually we are getting tap-ins.

“Amir has been starting all season for us so we know the impact he has. Today we sat him and let the other guys go and then he had a go and it all worked out.

“I am so proud of these guys. They dug in for the remainder of the game so we are back at the ‘”Carpet”.

“I love playing up National Stadium and I think the boys also love playing up there. This is their fourth year in a row that we will be going to the ”Carpet“ and my third as a coach.”

Village will now face Devonshire Colts in the FA Cup final at the National Sports Centre on April 12.

“It’s going to be a tough one as Devonshire Colts are a on a nice high and knocked off a title contender to make it to the finals,” Dill said.

“They are not going to be easy to beat, so we’re going to have to put in the work in and really dig deep to get the win.”

Dill’s St George’s counterpart Drewonde Bascome was a man of very few words after his team’s cup hopes were dashed in a repeat of the 2023-24 final, which the east enders won 4-0 to claim their maiden title.

“It was a tough game and we just ran out of gas,” he said. “That’s all I can really say and well done to Village.”

Village took the game to their opponents from the opening whistle with wing back Jalen Harvey having a header saved and team-mates Jai Bean and Seke Spence testing St George’s stopper Troy Hall Jr from distance.

St George’s gradually grew into the contest and began creating chances of their own with Village goalkeeper and captain Detre Bell producing back-to-back saves to deny Hall and Neal Cameron.

The east enders relentless pressure eventually told when Hall capitalised on poor defending to finally make the breakthrough. Village’s defence allowed a clearance from the opposite end of the pitch to bounce freely in their own half and an alert Hall reacted quickest to knee the loose ball over the head of the advancing Bell into the empty net.

Upset over his team’s first-half display, Rams coach Dill read his players the riot act during the break and whatever words he uttered certainly had the desired effect as Scott brought the teams level. Jonté Smith knocked down Bell’s long punt upfield and Scott volleyed the ball past Hall from just outside the box to send the game to extra time.

Dill, who came off the bench at the start of the second half, then sealed his team’s come-from behind win when he intercepted Mitchell Tucker’s intended backpass, dribbled several yards and planted his shot from outside of the area into the bottom corner.

Victory did not come without a cost for Village as Dill and defender Terryn Fray were unable to go the distance after picking up ankle and hamstring injuries.

Scorers

St George’s: Blaiz Hall, 26

North Village: Scott, 68, Dill 100

Teams

St George's Colts (4-1-4-1): T Hall Jr 7 — J Basset 7, L Evans 6, J Schroder 7, M Nisbett-Tankard 5 (sub: N Paynter, 108min) — K Hall 7 — C Neal 6 (sub: M Tucker, 95), Z McGuire 6, L Lewis 5, I Gibbons 5 (sub: J Dickinson, 74 5) — B Hall 7. Substitutes not used: T Lowe, I Greaves, J Dill, T Bell

North Village (3-4-2-1): D Bell 8 — J Sukdeo 5 (A Dill, 46 7; sub: A Brangman-Johnson, 118)), T Fray 6 (sub: Q Outerbridge, 56), K Harrison 6 — J Harvey 7, T Williams 5 (sub: J Chapman, 56 7), C Caisey 6 (sub: L Steede, 114), S Spence 8 — K Scott 8, J Smith 6 — J Bean 8. Booked: Caisey. Substitutes not used: T Tucker, P Smith

Referee: A Majors