Devonshire Cougars 0

Robin Hood 2

Robin Hood advanced to their first FA Cup final after seeing off three-times champions Devonshire Cougars in their FA Cup semi-final at Police Field yesterday.

Well-taken second-half goals from Antwan Russell and Lejuan Simmons, both of whom were a thorn in Cougars’s side throughout the match, were enough to settle the encounter.

Russell blasted home what proved to be the winner in the 68th minute after the Cougars defence failed to deal with Simmons’s cross.

Simmons then killed the game off six minutes from the end when he went from provider to goal-scorer after firing into an empty net.

The scrappy cup tie was far from a classic, and at times was tough on the eyes, with both teams failing to take advantage of the space on offer and lacking fluency, particularly in the attacking third.

Going into the match Cougars had not played competitively since April 3, and they looked every bit a team coming off a lay-off as they struggled to find any sort of rhythm and failed to trouble the Hood goal.

Hood held a slight edge throughout and should have led at half-time after bombarding their opponent’s goal during the opening exchanges.

Hood had an effort cleared off the line before Ricardo Brangman, the Cougars goalkeeper, made a fingertip save at his near post to thwart Jason Bather’s header from a Marcelos Thomas free kick on the stroke of half-time.

Hood picked up where they left off at the start of the second half with Russell just failing to get a boot to Nathan Peskett’s cross, while at the other end Machi Battersbee dragged Cougars’s best chance inches wide on a counterattack.

Brangman also raced off his line to punch the ball away from the charging Peskett as Hood kept the pressure on.

The turning point in the match occurred in the 64th minute when Zekiro White, the Cougars defender, was substituted after pulling a leg muscle. The loss of White’s physical presence left Cougars vulnerable and Hood took full advantage.

The goal that Hood’s persistence warranted finally arrived in the 68th minute when Simmons ran into open space on the right flank and crossed in the middle where Russell beat Brangman with firmly struck effort from the edge of the penalty box.

At this stage Cougars seemed to be a beaten bunch and Simmons made certain after lobbing Brangman at the near post and slotting into an empty net to finish off another attack that caught Cougars napping.

TEAMS

Scorers

Robin Hood (Russell 68, Simmons 84)

Devonshire Cougars (4-3-3): R Brangman — J Darrell, Zekiro White (sub: Z Simmons, 64min), Zeko White, T Woodly — J Smith, Moses Steede (sub: V Minors, 81), M Battersbee — C Burns, L Brangman (sub: Mark Steede, 68), K Steede. Substitutes not used: M Thomas, C Stevens, C Albouy. Booked: Zekiro White.

Robin Hood (4-3-3): J Simons — J Bather, J Titterton, D Cox, J Pereira — A Nelson, M Thomas (sub: D Andrade, 88), E Outerbridge — A Russell (sub: C Boyce, 90+3), L Simmons, N Peskett (sub: T Dill, 88). Substitutes not used: T Figureido, S Burchall, C Fosker, A Ivo. Booked: Simmons.

Referee: A Francis.