Paget 0 North Village 2

Jonté Smith marked his return for North Village with a second-half goal against Paget at Southampton Oval, sealing a spot in the Friendship Trophy semi-finals.

The forward, a member of the successful Bermuda cricket team at the ICC T20 World Cup Americas Sub-Regional Qualifier in Argentina, found the target on the hour mark, ten minutes after Tre Ming scored directly from a corner kick to put Calvin Dill Jr’s side ahead.

In a rematch of last year’s semi-final, Village will face champions PHC in a Boxing Day clash at Wellington Oval.

Smith, who watched from the sidelines last month as Village edged Devonshire Colts 3-2 in the quarter-finals, was thrilled to make an impact.

“It’s nice to be back because I missed football while I was away with the national cricket team,” Smith told The Royal Gazette. “Obviously, the cricket tour was something I’ve hoped and dreamt of being a part of. It was gruelling playing eight games in ten days, so my body was a bit sore.

“I was keeping tabs on the scores while I was away and sending messages to a few of the players in the team to keep encouraging them.

“I have a lot of creative players behind me, and I try to encourage them to be confident on the ball. I just feel we are one of those teams that if we create chances, we can outscore teams.

“Our defence is one of the best in the league, so as long as we create goals, I feel we can go on a real winning run.

“Paget are a very physical team. They do well in making the game a battle and that’s where they thrive.

“The first half was hard-fought, scrappy, and pretty much a fight. But in the second half, when we scored, that’s when we started creating chances and were able to dominate the game more.”

Smith, who won his first trophy since returning to Bermuda in 2022 with St George’s in the FA Cup Final in April , is determined to lift the Friendship Trophy with Village.

“I’ve won only one trophy since I came back, so this is the first one up for grabs and I want to win it,” the 30-year-old said.

“We’re a confident team, and if you want to win trophies, you have to beat the best. You can’t win without playing tough games, so we’ll rest, recover, and then go again.”

Ming, who equalised for Village in a 1-1 league draw with PHC earlier this season, was delighted to score directly from a corner.

“I’m happy to score directly from a corner kick since it was my first time doing that,” the midfielder said.

“Paget just wanted to rough us up, and that can only work for so long. Once we settled and played, we looked much better. I feel when we got our striker involved, we came good because he’s one of the best players in the league.”

Paget coach Antwan Russell criticised his defence for conceding the two goals.

“My defenders were ball-watching to concede those two goals,” Russell said. “If you make such mistakes against a quality side, you get punished.

“It was a decent game. Until Village scored, the match was balanced. In the first half, we were the better team. In the second half, Village grew in confidence after scoring.

“We’ve played Village three times this year. We won one, drew one, and now we’ve lost, so it’s turning into a nice rivalry.”

The match began with Village’s Seke Spence firing over the bar in the fifth minute. Shakir Smith had Paget’s first chance, but his tame shot was easily dealt with by Detre Bell.

After a goalless first half, Village broke the deadlock in the 55th minute. Ming’s corner caused confusion, with Paget defender Kyjah Simons misjudging the ball as it bounced off the crossbar and crossed the line.

Paget responded quickly, with Delray Rawlins forcing Bell into a brilliant save in the 57th minute.

Smith then added a second for Village, tapping in from a London Steede-Jackson cross from the right.

Paget had a chance to respond in the 78th minute, with Shakir Smith beating two defenders, only for his finish to let him down.

At the other end, Z’Dao Dill failed to keep his shot down when aiming at goal. On the stroke of full time, Paget goalkeeper Jade Morrissey was at full stretch to deny Jonté Smith a second goal from a free kick.

SCORERS

North Village: Ming 50, Smith 60

TEAMS

Paget (4-3-3): J Morrissey 5 — K Simons 5 (sub: N Carpenter, 56 5), R DeShields 5, J Carpenter 5, D Cook 5 — D Joell 5 (sub: J Stovell, 69 5), R Russell 5 (sub: K Durrant, 56 5), B Furbert 5 — S Smith 6, D Rawlins 6, D Hart 6 (sub: A Lee, 84). Substitutes not used: K Hypolite, O Tucker, O DeShields. Booked: R DeShields, Durrant, Furbert, Carpenter.

North Village (4-2-3-1): D Bell 7 — K Knights 6, R Sampson, J Basden 6, K Harrison 6 — T Ming 7 (sub: I Simmons, 84), S Spence 6 — L Steede-Jackson 7, D Swan-DeSilva 6 (sub: A DeShield-Tankard, 67 5), Z Dill 6 (sub: B Robinson, 84) — J Smith 7. Substitutes not used: A Dill, Z Jennings, T Fray. Booked: Spence, Dill.

Referee: D Parchment (Jamaica).