Dandy Town 3 Somerset Trojans 1After trading blows for 90 minutes in a scoreless league fixture at the weekend, Dandy Town and Somerset Trojans came out with all guns blazing in a Friendship Trophy quarter-final at St. John’s Field last night.

There were three goals that resonated quality but it took the one gaffe by Somerset’s international goalkeeper, Timmy Figureido, to confirm for Town a place in the last four with PHC, North Village and Devonshire Colts.

With Somerset holding out hope that they could cancel out Devon Binns’ go-ahead goal, Figureido allowed a well-struck shot from Kevin Hurdle to slip through his hands and into the net.

Given the problems Somerset had in hitting the target, after Sheridan Ming gave them a fifth-minute lead, such an error with only two minutes remaining proved insurmountable.

Ming struck with a right-foot side volley that left Jason Smith, the Town goalkeeper, clutching at thin air.

But no more than 30 seconds later, Figureido was picking the ball out of the Somerset net after Janeiro Tucker went one better with a left-foot volley of his own from 20 yards.

There was little to separate the sides in a physical opening half that saw David Rahman receive an ugly gash over his left eye and no shortage of fierce tackles.

Chances were few but when they came, the quality of the earlier finishing went amiss, with Somerset forward Marvin Belboda the chief culprit.

First, Tucker snatched at a shot in the 38th minute after he was put through by Hurdle, who was an influential presence in the heart of the Town midfield. Two minutes later, the focus switched to Belboda — and how it did.

In what will be a candidate for Miss of the Season, Belboda, who scored a hat-trick in his previous outing against PHC, hit the bar from inside six yards after the hard-working Dwight Basden’s cross took Smith out of the equation.

Belboda had another chance minutes later but he needed too much time to tee up a left-foot shot and was dispossessed by the retreating Lloyd Christopher.

Smith was called into action early in the second-half, when he tipped over a Karl Roberts drive but Town were ahead in the 59th minute with the best move of the match. Again, Hurdle was central to a sweeping move, which ended with Darron Simons flighting in a cross that Binns drilled home from close range.

Somerset continued to show industry going forward but were foiled by stout defending by Town’s back three, with Brendan O’Riordan and Hurdle always close by as outlets.

“Somerset was a difficult field to play on because it is square and not rectangular, so it was hard to get any direction and we had to play more possession,” Town coach Andrew Bascome said of Sunday’s difficulties.

“But once we got them out of there we would be able to stretch the field longer and get in behind them.

“Up at Somerset, Karl (Roberts) plays a high line of defence and squashes the play and makes it difficult. I’m happy with what I saw tonight.”Dandy Town: <$>J.Smith; L.Christopher, L.Furbert; D.Binns, B.O’Riordan, P.Douglas, K.Hurdle, S.Tuzo (C.Hill, 84 mins); J.Tucker (R.Tucker, 74 mins), D.Simons (P.Cann, 84 mins). Substitutes not used: D.Burchall, K.Mundy. Booked: O’Riordan.

Somerset Trojans: T.Figureido; A.Rahman, R.Scott, K.Roberts, T.Fubler; S.Ming, D.Lawler, D.Rahman (K.Tucker, 83 mins), T.Russell; M.Belboda (O.Shakir, 68 mins), D.Basden. Substitutes not used: K.Simons, D.Minor, D.Stovell. Booked: Roberts.

Men of the match: K.Hurdle (Dandy Town); D.Basden (Somerset).

Referee: Anthony Mouchette.