Dandy Town 4 Devonshire Colts 0

Dandy Town booked one of the last remaining spots in the FA Cup quarter-finals last night after comfortably getting the better of Devonshire Colts at Goose Gosling Field.

Four different scorers did the damage for Town on a night that saw precious few opportunities for Colts throughout the 90 minutes. Town had already worked their way to a 2-0 advantage when captain Angelo Simmons was helped off the field with a calf injury in the 33rd minute.

His absence was hardly felt this time around with the Premier Division leaders even having the luxury of introducing youngsters from their bench in the second half, as Colts struggled to provide any real threat to the Hornets.

Treshon Smith, filling in for regular goalkeeper Domico Francis who had a hand injury and was one of the Colts substitutes, was beaten for the first time in the 17th minute, when a quick break by Town opened their opponents’ defence on the right side before a cross into the box by Tomiko Goater was side-footed past the goalkeeper by Cecoy Robinson.

Smith was quick off his line two minutes later to boot the ball clear after a pass down the middle put Simmons through.

But there was nothing he could do to prevent Town from doubling their advantage in the 23rd minute, when another ball into the box by Goater — this time for Jomei Bean-Lindo — was allowed to bounce by the Colts defenders, inaction which allowed their former team-mate to drive a left-footed shot into the far corner.

They should have had a third minutes later when Simmons intercepted a Colts pass on the left side, before getting into the box and laying a pass back for Goater, who somehow managed to sidefoot his effort over the crossbar from 12 yards out.

The start of the second half saw Colts battling hard to try and pull themselves back in the contest, with striker Lozendro Symonds stinging the hands of Dandy Town goalkeeper Jaiden Manders, who tipped his effort around the post.

Five minutes later Town did score their third goal, to essentially put the game out of Colts’ reach, this time Davis getting on to a pass into the box and lobbing the ball over Smith to make it 3-0.

It was a worthy finish for a good build-up after some short passes opened up the three-man Colts defence.

Desperate to find a way back in the contest, Colts made a double substitution in the 65th minute with Francis and Ashon Hart replacing Symonds and Jaquari Paynter.

However, it was Town that found themselves on the score sheet again, this time in the 65th minute when Goater pounced inside the box, following a poor clearance to drive a low shot past Smith, putting a hammer to the final nail and ending Colts’ cup ambitions.

∎ The BFA announced that last weekend’s FA Cup match between Somerset Trojans and Hamilton Parish, which was postponed on Saturday night because of floodlight failure, has been rescheduled for March 3 at Somerset at 8pm.

Also, this Saturday’s Premier Division match between the Trojans and Devonshire Cougars has been switched to Sunday at 3pm at Somerset CC.

SCORERS

Dandy Town: Robinson 17, Bean-Lindo 23, Davis 56, Goater 68.

TEAMS

Dandy Town (4-3-3): J Manders 6 ‒ E Blankendal 6, T Webb 6, T Manders 6, J Bean-Lindo 7 ‒ N Spence 6 (sub: A Estravit 76min), A Furbert 6, T Goater 6 (sub: S Tatem 84) ‒ A Simmons 6 (sub: K Davis 38, 6), C Robinson 7, M Mello-Cann 6 (sub: D Scraders 76). Substitutes not used: J Rosser, K Hendrickson. Booked: Blankendal.

Devonshire Colts (3-4-3): T Smith 6 ‒ M Williams 5 (sub: D Dillas 75), C Minors 6, F Lema 5 ‒ Z Burgess 6, C Henry 6, G Todd 5 (sub: T Axelson 75), Z Bailey 5 (sub: K Burch 84) ‒ L Symonds 5 (sub: D Francis 65, 5), J Paynter 5 (sub: A Hart 65, 5), B O’Connor 5. Substitutes not used: J Saunders, S Swan. Booked: Burch, Hart.

Referee: T Simons