Dandy Town 0

Devonshire Colts 3

Devonshire Colts cruised into the Martonmere Cup semi-finals with this 3-0 win over a lethargic Dandy Town outfit at BAA Field last night during what for the most part was a scrappy affair.

A first-half strike from Jason Dill coupled with two second-half tallies from Peter Sampson and late substitute Jamel Smith was more than enough to see Colts advance.

Colts' win also means that Somerset Trojans will accompany them through to the semi-finals.

After a lacklustre opening period, both teams had chances to take the initiative.

Colts dangerman Aljame Zuill, linking well down the right flank with both Sampson and Julian Francis, caused a few early concerns, first having a header frantically cleared off the goal-line and then shooting just wide of the upright after Town ‘keeper Antoine Lightbourne mis-directed an attempted goal-kick straight to the lanky striker.

But Town responded with Carlos Smith almost breaking the ice in the 17th minute when his firm blast from just inside the 18-yard box rebounded off the crossbar and was cleared away for a corner.

Colts finally opened their account in the 28th minute when Dill was the grateful far post recipient of a Francis cross from the right.

Zuill then saw another effort go wide before Town had an appeal for a penalty turned down by referee Lyndon Raynor after lanky striker Kevin Hurdle went tumbling down in the area.

With half-time approaching, Hurdle then saw a close range effort deflected wide for a corner. And from the resulting kick, Brendon O'Riordan's near post header trickled inches wide.

Colts came storming out in the second half and began to pin down their opponents in their own territory

It wasn't surprising to see them go 2-0 up when Sampson's brilliant solo run culminated with a low drive from an acute angle which beat Town's half-time substitute ‘keeper Jason Smith at the near post.

Colts were still not done and with only two minutes of regulation time remaining, late second-half sub Smith scored his team's third goal from a similar angle to that of Sampson.

Dandy Town: A.Lightbourne (J.Smith, 45 mins), C.Azhar, J.Robinson (D.Hill, 59 mins), S.Smith, L.Furbert, S.Wilson, B.Oriordan, C.Smith, G.Foggo, W.Place, K.Hurdle (C.Blankendal, 71 mins).

Devonshire Colts: K.Dill, M.Hollis, Jer.Belboda, K.Simpson, S.Mendes, A.Zuill, P.Sampson, J.Belboda (J.Smith, 65 mins), J.Francis (R.Davis, 85 mins), J.Dill (L.Holder, 65 mins), J.Simmons.

Booked: S.Smith, G.Foggo (Dandy Town).

Men of the match: S.Smith (Town); P.Sampson (Colts).

Referee: L.Raynor.