Somerset Eagles 1 St David’s Warriors 3

St David’s Warriors remain in contention to capture the First Division Shield trophy for a second time after coming from behind to defeat two-times winners Somerset Eagles 3-1 at Southampton Oval yesterday.

“Eagles came to play, they gave us a good game,” said Warriors coach Aaron Lugo, who was a member of the winning team in 2007-08.

“They allowed us to try some things which we will work on for the final.

“We had some college players back and they did what was asked of them. We will be ready for the finals.”

The Warriors started on the front foot with the first attempt coming as early as the third minute. James Pace’s left-footed drive took a deflection sending Eagles goalkeeper Jermaine Rumley the wrong way, but he was able to recover to palm the shot away for a corner.

However, against the run of play Eagles opened the scoring when K’Tori Butterfield’s weighted through-ball allowed Makai Robinson to outrun the St David’s defence, beat the onrushing Chaz Knights and slot the ball into the empty net.

The Warriors nearly equalised from the restart with Pace getting off a firm drive which bounced off the keeper’s chest before being cleared to safety.

The St David’s goalkeeper was well-positioned to deny Zaire Smith from doubling the lead before Christen Lugo missed a glaring opportunity to level when he shot straight at Rumley after a square pass into the centre by Keishen Bean found him alone in front of goal.

Eagles sustained the pressure to take a one-goal lead into the break. St David’s restarted the match with purpose, forcing Rumley to make a point-blank save from a Pace diving header after a low Lugo cross.

Rumley was finally beaten when Andrew Paynter rose highest to head home from a corner to equalise before the Warriors took the lead for good when Pace beat the offside trap to slot beyond Rumley as the Eagles defence waited for the referee’s whistle that never came.

Lugo then turned from provider to scorer as he outran Choike Medeiros’s tired legs on a through-ball to hit a low drive beyond the Eagles custodian.

At the other end, substitute Marcus Iris-Simmons forced Knights into a point-blank save before having his goal bound shot blocked.

Warriors held firm in the closing stages to advance into the final where they will play the winners of the second semi-final between Devonshire Colts and Boulevard Blazers.

SCORERS

Somerset Eagles: Robinson 7

St David’s Warriors: Andrew Paynter 49, Pace 58, Lugo 66

TEAMS

Somerset Eagles (4-2-3-1): J Rumley 7 – M Basden 6, C Madeiros 6 (sub: J Hollis, 83min), J Estis 6, S Lightbourne 5 (sub: K Astwood, 64 5), J Simons 5, E Fubler 6 – Z Smith 6, K Butterfield (sub: M Iris-Simmons, 9 5), N Rego 5 – M Robinson 6. Substitutes not used: B Hunt, D Tacklyn, E Pitt-Adams, M Brangman. Booked: Robinson.

St David’s Warriors (4-2-3-1): C Knights 6 – Andrew Paynter 7, M Hodsoll 6 (sub: J Wales, 18 5; sub: J Jervis, 89), D Butterfield 6, B Furqan 5 — D Butterfield 6, M Proctor 6 – M Moreno 6 (sub: D Minors, 89), C Lugo 7, J Pace 7 (sub: K Butterfield, 83) – K Bean 6. Substitutes not used: C King, O Minors, Aaron Paynter. Booked: Furqan, Andrew Paynter, K Butterfield.

Referee: W Woodley.