St George’s Colts 3 North Village 2

St George’s Colts came from two goals down to stun North Village in the Premier Division at Wellington Oval on Saturday.

In a dress rehearsal for the FA Cup semi-final showdown between the two sides next Sunday, Village thought they had sealed victory after Pierre Smith opened the scoring in the 42nd minute and Jai Bean doubled the lead in the 49th.

However, St George’s hit back with two quick goals from substitutes Leroy Lewis Jr and Jyrus Dill within two minutes just after the hour. Blaiz Hall then netted the winner in the 74th minute, much to the delight of the sizeable crowd which showed up on a sunny afternoon.

St George’s coach Drewonde Bascome, whose side moved to 19 points, felt that the victory came at an opportune time before they clash with Village in the last-four stage of the FA Cup.

“It’s a big win going into the FA Cup semi-finals, so we’ll see them next week,” Bascome told The Royal Gazette.

“This is a good victory to get into next week. Morale is high and the boys are feeling good, We’ve got Village again next week so that’s all that matters.

“I always felt we were going to come back and be in the game. We just changed the tactics around a bit, made an early substitution to get back into the game and it worked.

“I felt in the first half we should have been up, but we missed several chances and they capitalised on two chances.

“We had a big support system for the side, so big up the fans. I want to thank the St George’s community for having our back and I hope they are with us in the FA Cup semi-finals.”

St George’s captain Kashe Hall, who provided the assist for the winner days after scoring the winning goal against Young Men’s Social Club, was pleased to get the victory.

“A win right before the semi-final, to try and get to the final is all we needed,” Hall said.

“We’re short of players, but we still stuck together as a team. That’s the main part I was focusing on, getting the win, that’s just an extra boost and extra positive for us.

“We just kept playing and running at them. We played our own style of football and knocked the ball around. Fans support us all year round, when we’re down and we’re up. So thank you to the fans and hopefully they come out in support in the semi-final when we try to get to the final.”

North Village coach Calvin Dill Jr thought that his side paid the price for undermining their opponents.

“I think we probably took the game a little lightly and that’s where the outcome comes from,” Dill said.

“I know we’ve got to play them again next week in the FA Cup. We did tell a few players to rest today and we just have to go back to the drawing board and deal with it on Sunday.

“We’re going into the semi-finals with a stronger side and hopefully our mentality is a little higher. The game’s never done until the final whistle blows, and we have to stay focused for the whole 90 plus minutes.

“We got away from what we were doing to get the second goal and I thought we got tired as we usually come down here and dominate this field.”

Village conceded the last goal after making four substitutions in the 67th minute. Dill emphasised that he felt he had to make the changes in an effort to get the players ready for the semi-final.

“The goal came after we made the changes,” the Village coach said.

“But again, certain players had to come off to catch some rest for next week. The guys we brought on have been training, so they deserve some time to play too.

“It was just to get some players some playing time, you might not see half of these players next week. I’ve got about five guys that have to come back into my team for next week.

“Looking at the St George’s squad, they’ve only got one player that they’re bringing in, that is Malachi Trott.”

St George’s made a bright start with Blaiz Hall having enough space to shoot and his effort went wide.

Lewis, who replaced Isaiah Greaves in the 22nd minute, had a chance in the 35th minute after being put through by Blaiz Hall.

Village took the lead three minutes before the break when Jalen Harvey’s cross from the left was tapped in by Smith.

Ingenuity from Amir Dill, who ran behind the St George’s defence, allowed Bean to bundle the ball over from close range.

St George’s hit back with two goals within a minute. A counter-attack allowed Lewis to find the first, before Jyrus Dill found the equaliser.

The comeback was complete thanks to swift movement from the Hall brothers, with Kashe putting Blaiz through to tuck the ball into the net from close range.

Amir Dill came close from a corner in the 78th. Kyle Knights shot straight at the keeper in the 83rd as Village tried to find their way into the game.

Che'Kai Caisey’s header agonisingly went wide following a cross delivered into the box by Bean. On the other end, Detre saved his team further embarrassment by coming up with a point-blank save to deny Blaiz Hall.

SCORERS

St George’s Colts: Lewis 64, Dill 65, B Hall 74

North Village: Smith 42, Bean 49

TEAMS

St George’s Colts (4-3-3): T Hall 6 — M Nisbett-Tankard 6, L Evans 7 (sub: T Lowe, 90min), J Schroder 6, I Greaves 5 (sub: L Lewis, 7)—M Tucker 6 (sub: J Dill, 58), Z McGuire 6, K Hall 7— B Hall 7, J Bassett 7, I Gibbons 6. Substitutes not used: D Bascome. Booked: Dill

North Village (4-3-3): D Bell 6 — K Harrison 6 (sub: K Knights, 67 6), Q Outerbridge 6 (sub: K Cann, 37), T Fray 6 (sub: J Hayward, 67 6), J Harvey 7 — T Williams 6 (sub: K Scott, 67 6), S Spence 6, C Caisey 6 — P Smith 6 (sub: T Tucker, 67 5), J Bean 7, A Dill 7. Booked: Scott

Referee: K Pennyfeather (Antigua & Barbuda).