Dandy Town 3 St. George's 2

(after extra time)

Substitute Paul (Rip) Cann ripped the heart out of a spirited St. George's team when he sealed his hat-trick seconds into extra-time to put favourites Dandy Town through to the final of the FA Cup yesterday.

With the teams deadlocked 2-2 after 90 minutes at Bernard Park, Town seized the opportunity from the kick-off, moving swiftly into attack where the speedy Cann tore through the middle of the defence to drive home what proved to be the clincher from just inside the box.

Cann deserved his man-of-the-match honours but coach Andrew Bascome should perhaps grab a share of the accolades.

At a time when Town had fallen behind to a goal from Greg Foggo after 14 minutes and were struggling to take the initiative against opponents growing in confidence, Bascome boldly decided to bring on Cann and Seyoum Tuzo after 43 minutes for forward Corey Hill and defender Devon Binns.

It proved to be a magical tactical switch by Bascome as seven minutes after the break Tuzo and Cann teamed up to deliver the equaliser.

After a Town corner was cleared, Tuzo crossed from the right and Cann was there to whip the ball home from an angle.

The self-belief that St. George's had earlier displayed began to dwindle as Town began to get on top with Darron Simons firing two angled shots wide.

Cann seized the stage once again after 73 minutes.

Assisted by skipper Lionel Furbert, he drilled home a shot from 18 yards to put Town 2-1 up.

But St. George's refused to throw in the towel and responded two minutes later when Sinclair Gibbons latched onto a ball just outside the penalty box and hammered home a shot to level the scores.

The teams battled on with Paynter solid in the St. George's defence and Reggie Tucker continuing to make an impact in the middle for Town.

Upstarts St. George's could have sewn up victory three minutes from time but Yuseff Pitt was left holding his head in disbelief as his shot struck a defender and went for a corner.

The game went into extra-time and Cann made St. George's pay, snatching a winner which puts his side into the final against the winners of North Village and Somerset Eagles who play at Police Field on March 10.

Dandy Town: J.Smith; L.Christopher, M.Lowe, K.Mundy, D.Binns (S.Tuzo, 43 mins); L.Furbert, B.O'Riordan, R.Tucker; D.Simons, J.Tucker (D.Boyles, 70 mins), C.Hill (P.Cann, 43 min). Subs not used: P.Douglas, K.Hurdle. Booked: J.Tucker, S.Tuzo.

St. George's: T.Hall; D.Signor, U.Fox, N.Paynter, D.Bailey; D.Wright, M.Outerbridge (K.Butterfield, 97 mins), G.Foggo (R.Steede, 110 mins); S.Gibbons, Y.Pitt, D.Robinson (M.Crane, 53 mins). Subs not used: D.Smith, T.Smith. Booked: N.Paynter, U.Fox.

Men-of-the-match: P.Cann (Town); N.Paynter (St. George's).

Referee: Stuart Crockwell