North Village remained on course for the triple crown yesterday when they overcame a brave and determined Prospect side at Police Field in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup.

Two goals from striker Nakia Smith and one apiece for Shayne Hollis and Ralph Bean Jr. were enough to seal the visitor?s place in the competition?s semi-finals ? though Prospect had plenty to be proud of after a heart-warming, backs-to-the-wall performance which only unravelled in the game?s latter stages as the players tired.

Village, meanwhile, are now two victories away from the triple crown, having already secured the Premier Division title and the Friendship Trophy.

The game began as expected, with Earl Basden?s men defending in numbers and inviting Village on to them in wave after wave of attacks.

But a stunning, out-of-the-blue volley from Prospect striker John Richmond momentarily silenced the vocal contingent of Village fans at the ground after it cannoned onto the underside of Zane Henrickson?s bar and looked to have crossed the line.

The linesman?s flag however remained by his side and no goal was awarded ? much to the chagrin of the Prospect bench who remained convinced that they taken the lead, albeit against the run of play.

Nonetheless, Village were clearly the classier team from the outset and though Prospect worked their socks off for much of the first half, their ability to repel the onslaught was founded more on luck than skill.

Yet for all their pressure and possession, Village lacked a killer instinct going forward and ? faced with a side which was defending very deep ? struggled to carve out the number of chances their dominance demanded.

But just when it seemed the Reds had run out of ideas, Smith slotted comfortably home from ten yards to give his side the lead after Prospect?s defenders had for once failed to get the ball clear from deep inside their penalty area.

Even a goal down, Prospect refused to submit meekly after the break, throwing themselves into tackles, pressing the ball in midfield and making it very difficult for the Premier Division champions to establish any sort of fluent rhythm.

The game, however, was brought to a sudden halt when Prospect captain Clifford Roberts had to be taken to hospital after sustaining a nasty blow to the knee in a clash with Burgess.

Flinging himself into a full-blooded tackle as Village?s left winger attempted to go round him, the collision was an ugly one and Roberts let out a scream of pain and began writhing around on the ground in obvious agony.

And though he was eventually able to hobble to the sidelines by leaning on two men for support, he collapsed again soon after and had to be stretchered into the back of a waiting ambulance.

If anything, the 15-minute break worked in Prospect?s favour and quite unexpectedly they went level ? thanks to a quite spectacular effort from Quinton Francis, who embarrassed Hendrickson with a high lob from the halfway line which swerved about menacingly in the wind before dropping in just under the cross bar.

It was difficult to fault the Village ?keeper in the circumstances, but whether down to skill or good fortune, an equaliser was no less than Prospect deserved.

Village have not met with so much success this season for nothing, however, and they responded to the setback with all-out, unforgiving attack which had Prospect almost immediately in a spin.

The introduction of the electric Hollis on the right flank was the catalyst, as the little maestro injected some much-needed zest into Village?s play.

The goal eventually came through Bean, after a shot from the edge of the area ballooned up off a defender?s leg and over ?keeper Kuhn Evans ? before clipping the left hand post and falling at the feet of Bean who was unmarked.

Hollis got the third, firing in from an acute angle, while moments later and with only five minutes left in the game, Smith got his second, volleying home a decent Keith Jennings cross from the left.K.Evans, S.Gale, C.Roberts(L.Mathurin 61) A.Daniels, Q.Francis, N.Woods, D.Evans, J.Richmond, J.Laws, A.Augosto, J.DennisZ.Hendrickson, R.Wilson, K.Dill, Kentoine Jennings, Keith Jennings, J.Boyles, R.Bean, D.Tankard, N.Smith, K.Dill (S.Hollis 76), T.BurgessL.Mathurin (Prospect) K.Jennings (Village)Q.Francis (Prospect), N.Smith (Village)Jenny Villamarin