Southampton Rangers 1 North Village 4

North Village booked their spot in the FA Cup semi-finals with a 4-1 victory over Southampton Rangers at Southampton Oval yesterday.

In a classic tale of two halves, Rangers were dominant in the early stages of the match, but Village were able to score four unanswered goals in the second half to recover a one-goal deficit from an early Keishon Wilson strike.

“Rangers started the match a lot better than we did and scored an early goal, which we didn’t have a good response to,” said Village head coach Kenny Thompson.

“The message at half-time was to remain calm because we couldn’t shift the tide from a position of frustration and that gave us at least a chance of getting back in the match.”

Central to the comeback, was Keishen Bean, returning to the team after being out of action through injury, since December. The experienced striker stepped off the bench to set up the go-ahead goal and add two of his own to seal the victory.

“Keishen coming back is clearly a lift to the squad as you can see from the performance, and with some other key returns we now have a few more options in terms of personnel,” added Thompson.

Rangers were definitely the sharper team out the blocks and were combining on the wings to get in behind with good effect.

It was no surprise in the twelfth minute, when Kamali Davis made a strong run down the left flank, before serving the ball up a platter to Wilson, who accepted the invitation to open the scoring from two yards.

Rangers continued to pressure as they searched for a second, but goalkeeper Tahj Bell was solid as he saved two low drives from the left from Quadir Maynard, and a similar effort from Donte Brangman at the edge of the box.

Village did not create their first chance until the half-hour mark, when Troy Tucker’s first-time strike from a Jason Lee pass was blocked brilliantly by Keedai Astwood to preserve the one-goal advantage going into half-time.

Rangers still looked in control after the restart, but in the 52nd minute Tucker pounced on a miscued defensive header and clipped his low effort into the bottom far corner to level the score.

The goal did as much to offset Rangers as it did to inspire Village with the manner of the goal proving to be a strong point of contention among the Rangers players.

On the hour mark, Bean made his first contribution laying off a pass to fellow substitute Jareau Daniels to finish off from close range.

Ten minutes later, Bean got his name on the scoresheet with a 30-yard thunderbolt that crashed off the inside of the upright and into the net.

Rangers were still chasing the match and had a few opportunities to pull one back, but the final blow came on the counter attack with Bean beating his defender one-on-one and slotting past the goalkeeper.

SCORERS

Southampton Rangers: Wilson 12

North Village: Tucker 52, Daniels 63, Bean 73, 89

TEAMS

Southampton Rangers (4-3-3): S Bean — R Sampson, M Nisbett-Tankard, K Astwood, K Harrison (sub: M Burch 79) — Q Maynard, D Brangman, D Ming — K Davis (sub: C Henry 65), J Bassett, K Wilson (sub: S Hollis 73). Substitutes not used: N Mello, J Hill, R Simmons, R Wright. Bookings: Davis.

North Village (4-3-3): T Bell, K Knights, Z Robinson, T Fray, A Darrell, J Briers, D Daniels, T Tucker, J Bell (sub: J Daniels 45), J Lee (sub: K Bean 60), R Simons (sub: P Smith 73). Substitutes not used: Q Lema, P Castle, T Bean, J Smith-DeShields.

Referee: L Cann.