Cal Dill Jr, the North Village coach, will be forced to make at least one change to his starting line-up for the FA Cup semi-final clash with PHC Zebras at Devonshire Rec tonight (8pm).

Village will be without winger Z'Dao Dill, who was carried off on a stretcher and taken to hospital after sustaining a knee injury during his team’s 1-0 Premier Division win over Paget Lions at Bernard Park on Sunday.

“Z’Dao’s knee came out of socket and the medical staff put it back in,” Dill told The Royal Gazette. “He’s now in a brace, so he’s out for a couple of weeks.

“It is a setback for us because he had come in and played against Paget. Now we are going to miss him for the cup game, but we still have the numbers to carry us through.”

Although a blow for the team, Dill is thankful that the player’s injury was not as bad as first feared.

“There is no ligament damage and nothing broken, so he’s in recovery and doing what he has to do,” Dill said. “Hopefully we are looking at another three weeks until he’s recovered and ready to go.”

Dill is cautiously optimistic over his team’s chances of success heading into the intriguing cup tie with Zebras.

“We are feeling pretty upbeat but the game is played on the field and I just have to prepare my team to go out there, fight for what they want and enjoy themselves,” he said.

“Put in 110 per cent effort that we ask for and whatever we come out with we should be satisfied with what we put out.“

Village remain on course for a league and FA Cup double but Dill chooses not to get ahead of himself.

“We don’t want to look too far ahead,” he said. We just want to keep putting in the good work, take one game at a time, stay focused and humble and let the chips fall where they fall.“

PHC may hold a psychological advantage heading into the tie after edging Village 2-1 in the Friendship Trophy semi-final in the previous meeting between two of the island’s most decorated clubs last December.

Very little has separated the pair this season after they played to a 1-1 stalemate in the first league meeting and Daren Usher, the PHC captain, anticipates this match will be hard fought.

“Friday night is a semi-final so I expect a dogfight from both teams,” he said.

“Winning a trophy is always incentive, especially for a team like PHC, so as long as there is a possibility of us winning the double, we are going fight to for it.”

Quincy Hunt, the PHC coach, could also potentially tweak his starting XI with several players having recently returned to the fold from injury.

“We have had a few injured players back in training and whether they are included in the squad or not is up to their fitness and the coaches,” Usher said.

Devonshire Cougars and Paget will square off in the remaining FA Cup semi-final at Bernard Park on Sunday (2:30pm).

New champions will be crowned this season as St George’s Colts were eliminated by Village in the quarter-finals in a repeat of the final last season, which the East Enders won convincingly 4-1.