Dev.Colts 1 Dandy Town 1 (Colts won 5-4 on penalties) `Stayin' Alive!' It was likely without any thought of Dudley Eve or Devonshire Colts that the legendary pop group The Bee Gee's penned the 1970s smash hit during a visit to movie mogul Robert Stigwood's Wreck Road, Somerset Bridge estate.

However, the mantra was certainly fitting for Colts, who dodged an early death in the Dudley Eve Trophy by the narrowest of margins, the defending champions instead sending Dandy Town to the grave after winning a penalty shoot-out at a cold, wind-swept, but warmly festive, Wellington Oval.

Playing in front a bevy of some 3,000 spectators, Colts took an early lead through top goal-poacher Aljame Zuill, but surrendered the advantage prior to the interval to a penalty converted by Town's Carlos Smith.

Still, they were able to celebrate at the end, as Quincy Aberdeen followed Raymond Beach's miss, striking the target with his sudden-death penalty shot, this after the two sides stood locked at 4-4 after the initial round of kicks.

Meanwhile, for Town it was an unfortunate case of deja-vu, as it was their second defeat via the spot in four days, the first coming on Saturday, when the suffered a 10-9 penalty loss against North Village after ending regulation at 4-4.

Nevertheless, Town coach Andrew Bascome looked at his side's elimination as affording players rest in advance of the season's second half, which promises a tough battle down the stretch.

"It's a hard way to go out for us, and I feel a little hard for the players, because they worked hard,'' said Bascome. "If we had to go out this is the best time, because I have some injuries, and I have a tough game with Wolves to start the next half, so I've got to prepare for that. The character on this team is good, and this shows me that, if we want to, we can go on a run and have some aims, whether it is to go for the league or whatever ...

"I'll give them a few days off and then pick up training again, and go for Wolves.'' Colts came out as a side on a mission, attacking their opponents early and often, with Marvin Belboda twice in the opening five minutes finding himself in good shooting position, but put both efforts over the bar.

Zuill showed his strike partner how to take advantage of opportunity, when he followed up on a Lloyd Holder blast that Jason Smith could only parry into the path of Zuill, who gleefully accepted the seasonal offering.

Town's first opportunity fell to young Omari Adderley after 15 minutes, when he intercepted an ill-advised back-pass, however, his sliding effort was turned away for a corner by goalkeeper Kevin Bean. Bean was likewise equal to the task moments later, as, from the resulting corner, Reginald Tucker unloaded a goalward blast from the top of the penalty area.

The 'keeper had no answer for Carlos Smith's spot kick in the 30th minute, the latter converting to Bean's right corner after Jermaine Belboda was blown for tripping Tucker in the area.

After an evenly contested first half, where much of the action occurred in midfield, with Town's Tucker, Smith, Beach and Adderley matching wits -- and ball skills -- with the likes of Keenan Burchall, Jermaine Belboda and Damon Ming, many expected a second-half explosion ... it never happened.

Handed a man advantage by the early ejection of Adderley by referee Stuart Crockwell, Colts could not apply the finishing touches in the final third, despite creating numerous chances and fine dribbling displays by Ming and Marvin Belboda went for nought.

Continued on page 27 Colts survive shoot-out test Continued from page 25 And once Lloyd Holder found a way not to slot the simplest of tap-ins, shooting wide of an empty net from eight yards in the 71st minute, the match appeared destined for a sudden-death decision. Yet, despite his men being able to go on and fight another day to retain the title, Colts' captain Shannon Burgess was not feeling overly optimistic at the end.

"Actually, I'm kind of worried,'' said Burgess, who suffered an early scare when he clashed heads with the lanky Kevin Hurdle during an aerial challenge.

"We didn't play well at all today, whereas usually, in this type of situation, I think we should have played with a lot more urgency than we did.

"We came out -- and I don't know if delay due to the first game going to penalties had anything to do with it -- but after the first five or 10 minutes, where we should have got a goal or two, we were kind of flat.'' Burgess, Zuill, Ming, Vic Ball and Aberdeen all scored penalties for Colts -- Marvin Belboda missed -- while Lionel Furbert, Sean Smith, Reginald Tucker and Carlos Smith converted for Town, against misses by Lloyd Christopher and Beach.

Devonshire Colts: K.Bean; Jermel Belboda, D.Zuill, J.Samuels (K.Simpson 71 mins), S.Burgess; K.Burchall, D.Ming, Jermaine Belboda (V.Ball 84 mins); L.Holder (Q.Aberdeen 71 mins), A.Zuill, M.Belboda.

Dandy Town: J.Smith; M.Lowe (K.Smith 89 mins), L.Christopher, S.Smith, L.Furbert; C.Smith, R.Tucker, R.Beach, O.Adderley; M.Hewey (S.Tuzo 55 mins), K.Hurdle (L.Smith 71 mins).

Men of the match: Damon Ming (Devonshire Colts); Raymond Beach (Dandy Town).

Yellow card: Aljame Zuill.

Red card: Omari Adderley.

Referee: Stuart Crockwell.

Ball control: Dandy Town's Lionel Furbert (right) finds himself in an awkward position after this clash with Colts' Jahmah Samuels in the Dudley Eve Trophy contest at Wellington Oval yesterday.