North Village 5 Som. Eagles 0

Hat-trick hero Ralph Bean Jr dedicated last night's superb victory to injured coach Scott Morton after North Village thrashed Somerset Eagles 5-0 at the National Sports Centre.

Morton was injured in a road accident on Monday night and missed seeing Bean's fine exhibition of marksmanship. The striker converted a penalty in the fifth minute and added further goals in the 74th and 84th minutes to seal Village's second trip to the Martonmere Cup final in two seasons.

Second-half substitute Dwight (Payback) Warren and Kimandi Binns netted Village's other strikes during a four-goal blitz late in the match which killed off Eagles' cup hopes.

Adding to Eagles' woes was 'keeper Adrian Burrows who, after Bean had sealed his fine treble with smartly taken lob from the edge of the 18-yard box, decided to call it quits and walked off the pitch, leaving his team to play with only ten men for the remainder of the match.

However, for Village, the win was bittersweet as most of their thoughts after the match were not centred on the November 11 final, but, instead, on the status of coach Morton.

"Sometimes conditions are not going to allow you to play how you want to play but you have to know how to adjust to the game," said a nonchalant Bean afterwards. "You must keep yourself in the game and take whatever opportunities come your way. But tonight's win was more for Scott (Morton). We scored five for Scott."

For the most part, last night's match proved to be a scrappy affair played under light drizzly conditions which made standing on one's feet a challenge in itself.

Tackling was also ferocious at times, but referee Lyndon Raynor only reached into his pocket on two occasions.

Kicking off with the wind to their backs, Village quickly reverted to a long ball game which immediately had the Eagles' defence on the run.

After weathering early pressure from their opponents, Village went ahead in the fifth minute through Bean who made no mistake with his spotkick after Kirk Simons hacked a goalward bound Keith Jennings from behind inside the penalty area.

Village created a few further chances to increase their lead, Bean first seeing his drive pushed around the post by an alert Burrows, while Kofi Dill's header from four yards went wide.

During a rare Eagles raid, Rodre (Piper) Wilson fed Lamaul Crofton a short pass deep in Village's half but the striker's first-time shot trickled harmlessly wide of the far post.

Village seemed to step things up a notch in the second-half, reverting back to their traditional passing game and should have doubled their lead in the 49th minute when Kevin Jennings sped down the right flank and sent over a perfect cross to sibling Keith Jennings standing inside the six yard box. However, he completely missed the ball with the goal at his mercy.

Bean then watched as his long-range tracer evaded the target and Kevin Jennings followed up with a chip which only missed the mark by inches. Dill then failed to connect his head to another Keith Jennings cross at the back post.

Eagles responded at the other end with Sean Simmons volleying a Wilson cornerkick just over from outside the 18-yard box.

However, there would be no denying Village in the 73rd minute when Bean stuck out his boot to stab home Keith Jennings' pass from ten yards.

With Eagles now wounded, the reds moved in for the kill.

First, Kentoine Jennings burst down the right side, and, after getting a lucky bounce from a Burrows' challenge, provided substitute Warren with the easy task of sidefooting the ball home from seven yards.

Bean then completed his treble with a deft lob over a now humiliated Burrows who decided enough was enough and headed for the showers before Binns rubbed salt into the wound and put Eagles out of their misery by scoring Village's fifth and final goal of the night.

Village now await the winner of next week's second semi-final between Devonshire Cougars and Boulevard.

North Village: Z.Hendrickson, K.Dill, K.Binns, Kent.Jennings, J.Boyles, M.Hansey, D.Jennings (J.Jennings, 74 mins), Keith Jennings (D.Warren, 74 mins), R.Bean, V.Tankard (Q.Paynter, 85 mins), Kev.Jennings.

Somerset Eagles: A.Burrows, K.Simons, K.Simmons, D.Burgess, M.Hunt, M.Butterfield, S.Simmons, J.Butterfield, D.Dowling (S.Worrell, 63 mins), L.Crofton (S.Dread, 75 mins), R.Wilson.

Booked: A.Burrows, K.Simons (Eagles).

Men of the match: R.Bean Jr (Village); D.Burgess (Eagles).

Referee: Lyndon Raynor.