Dev Colts 4 Dev Cougars 1

Hallowe'en came early for Devonshire Cougars last night and what a nightmare it was!

In a clinical 16-minute bombardment of the opposition's defence, Devonshire Colts sent the defending Martonmere Cup champions' chances of repeat success crashing with a three-goal blitz at Devonshire Rec. in the first half of their semi-final.

After conceding a goal early in the second half, Colts tightened up their defence and netted once more for a comprehensive 4-1 triumph to earn a place in the final against PHC.

Orange was the colour of the night as Colts knocked the wind out of their highly-touted rivals within 25 minutes of play. First, Lloyd Holder slotted home after Cougars' goalkeeper Henry Tori advanced carelessly to challenge Aljame Zuill who passed to his team-mate Holder.

That was in the ninth minute and three minutes later there was more celebration in the Colts camp as an unmarked Zuill - easily the evening's star - had a lightyear to fire the ball home from close range after a brilliant long pass from captain Shannon Burgess.

In the 25th minute, Tori compounded his team's woes with one of several ugly mistakes - this being the most unbelievable. Trying to clear a ball played back to him, the Cougars custodian only succeeded in slamming it into the back of Colts striker Julian Francis who celebrated his luck as the ball ricocheted into the net.

While Cougars came out more determined and aggressive in the second half, the writing was always on the wall. Despite a well-executed, back-post header by LoVintz Tota in the 48th minute, last year's winners failed to breach the Colts' resolute defence further. In their desperate bid to press forward, Cougars exposed more holes at the back and, finally, Colts added the icing to their cake in the 80th minute when an excellent build-up by Zuill and Anthony Thomas put Kevin Simpson on the scoresheet.

"It was an all-round, solid team performance. We didn't settle down as well in the second half but we defended well and got the job done," said jubilant Colts skipper Shannon Burgess.

By contrast, a reckless crunching tackle by Cougars player, Kori Goddard, on Thomas in the dying stages of the match epitomised the losers' frustration and resulted in Goodard's ejection.

Devonshire Colts: C.Davis, J.Belboda, K.Simpson, S.Mendes, S.Waldron, A.Thomas, J.Francis (J.Belboda, 65 mins), J.Simmons, L.Holder (J.Dill, 60 mins), A.Zuill (R.Davis, 87 mins), S.Burgess.

Devonshire Cougars: H.Tori, O.Butterfield, J.Deshields, S.Coddington, M.Smith, K.Steede, L.Tota (R.Burchall, 78 mins), K.Goddard, W.Salaam, H.Wolfe, R.Beach.

Booked: J.Francis (Dev. Colts); K.Goddard (Dev. Cougars)

Sent off: K. Goddard (Dev.Cougars, 88 mins)

Men of the Match: A.Zuill (Dev. Colts); L.Tota (Dev. Cougars)

Referee: S. Crockwell