RATHER than just hosting big cup games at their ground, St. George's Cricket Club will be involved in the action themselves for a change on Boxing Day when the 29th Premier's Dudley Eve Cup competition switches to Wellington Oval.

Playing on home soil in what will be the first semi-final of the holiday tournament was a huge incentive for St. George's Colts on Wednesday night when they defeated Somerset Trojans on a late Detroy Smith goal to advance to the winner's bracket of the double elimination tournament.

"It was a total team effort," said veteran St. George's defender Neil Paynter yesterday.

"It was a tight game, the type of game I expected, but fortunately for us we came out on top."

On Sunday Somerset Eagles will face St. David's and PHC will take on Boulevard with both matches taking place at Police Field.

Paynter knows the job is not complete yet and accepts that any one of the four teams can win the tournament. The east enders were boosted by the return from college of goalkeeper Freddie Hall and another college student, Jarreau Hayward, is also back and is expected to see action in the tournament.

"Our confidence is definitely high, but we're cautious in that confidence and at the same time not complacent. We're enjoying it for the moment. It doesn't really matter who we play on Boxing Day. It's that time of the year when you can enjoy it too much at times, but the good thing is we'll be playing football and we have that focus."

Colts, the First Division leaders, will be joined on Boxing Day by Premier Division side Dandy Town who beat Devonshire Cougars 2-0 in Wednesday's second match after goals from Damon Ming and Heys Wolffe.

Teams enjoy playing on the wide open spaces of Wellington Oval and a huge Boxing Day crowd should set the stage for two exciting matches which will determine the first finalists in each competition.

St. George's are the most consistent team in the First Division following nine games unbeaten in the league when they took 25 out of a maximum 29 points to lead the division at the halfway stage. Their only blemish after their opening day league loss to the Trojans was a shock 2-1 defeat to Commercial League team Tuff Dogs in the FA Cup last month.

It means that the east enders can now relax a bit in the buildup to Christmas while they await the winners of Sunday's clash between St. David's and Somerset Eagles at Police Field. The Trojans will play the losers of that match next Sunday to determine who will be eliminated.

The First Division competition contains evenly-matched teams with St. George's losing to Somerset in the league, drawing with St. David's and beating Eagles while the Trojans, the final team to qualify for the this tournament, drew with both St. David's and Somerset Eagles.

St. David's lost heavily to Eagles 3-0 back in October so they will be wary of their opponents who are making a strong push for promotion under coach Kenny Thompson's direction.

With two east end and two west end teams, the final could be an east versus west affair or even a derby encounter between St. George's and St. David's or Trojans and Eagles. Both these match-ups finished in 2-2 draw in the league.

Dandy Town's win over Cougars throws the Premier Division Dudley Eve wide open as Cougars, previously unbeaten and the pre-tournament favourites, now find themselves awaiting a must-win match against either Boulevard or PHC next weekend. After wins over Boulevard and Cougars in the last five days, Town have suddenly established themselves as the team to beat. Certainly they have it in them to go all the way, but inconsistency is their biggest worry. Just two weeks ago they lost to a Rangers side that was second-from-bottom at the time.

"At the same time we must remain humble, Dandy Town are a team in progress," said assistant coach Scott Morton, who is coming more to the fore in his coaching role now that player-coach Meshach Wade is seeing more action on the field.

"We have a lot of strong mentalities on the field but now we have to combine that in a team spirit, to create a total team. I'm still not happy with our controlling of the play, we need to dominate matches more in controlling the tempo of the match.

"There is a slight transition that is going extremely well, meaning that now Meshach is playing more of a player's role and he has to concentrate on that so there is more information coming from myself now. He is leading with his leadership abilities on the field, it is a combination that is going to be successful for the team if we stay with the right mentality as far as thinking team first and not individuals."

Town are relying on the experience of Wade and Carlos Smith in midfield, Damon Ming's flair on the flanks and Heys Wolffe and Raymond Beach up front, but Morton had praise for other players, too, namely brothers David and Ernest (the captain) and young midfielder Jamal Swan.

"The Signor brothers' level of play is sometimes up and down but I think it is improving tremendously as was seen last night (Wednesday)," said Morton.

"They are very good role players and team players. One player who has been consistent for us all season who had done it quietly is Jamel Swan. He has been a shining light in our team and has a lot of respect from the senior players based on his ability on the field. He's very controlled, good technical ability, very unselfish and he's growing into a very mature player. He is definitely going to be a mainstay in our team as long as he keeps doing the things he's doing."

No doubt PHC can relate on the topic of consistency, or lack of it. There have been frustrating times in the Zebras camp after last season's trophy-winning campaign. The defending league champions only managed to qualify for the Dudley Eve after North Village, the defending champions, stumbled against Cougars last weekend while PHC returned to winning way against bottom side Devonshire Colts.

Now with Village's crown up for grabs, the question is who will be consistent enough over Christmas to take it. Teams have been known to come out of the losers' bracket to win the title so Cougars certainly cannot be counted out. Certainly it lends itself to some exciting football over the next couple of weeks.

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Schedule

Sunday: Somerset Eagles v St. David's, 12.00; PHC v Boulevard, 2.30. Matches at Police Field

Boxing Day: First semi-finals at Wellington Oval, 12.00 and 2.30

December 28: Losers elimination matches at Devonshire Rec., 12.00 and 2.30

December 30: Second semi-final at Somerset, 7.00 and 9.00

New Year's Day: Finals at St. David's, 12.00 and 2.30