Dandy Town are through to their fourteenth FA Cup final in 29 years, and third in a row, after yesterday’s semi-final results at Police Field pitted them against a Robin Hood side that will make their first appearance in the final next Sunday.

Town, who have five FA titles since winning at the first attempt in 1986-87, overcame a second-half fightback by PHC Zebras to advance to the final after midfielder Tomiko Goater scored twice in a 2-1 win.

Hood, the runners-up to Town after their most successful Premier Division season, reached the Dudley Eve Trophy final in November last year when they lost to PHC.

Yesterday, Hood beat Devonshire Cougars 2-0 with second-half goals from Antwan Russell and Lejuan Simmons.

“It wasn’t the best of games but sometimes you don’t need to be pretty,” Kyle Lightbourne, the Hood coach, said.

“The pitch was difficult to play on which we knew before the game started. But I think we defended well and kept the ball in front of us and the guys worked hard.

“I said to the players at half-time this game was going to take something special from one of the special players to put the ball in the back of the net, and Antwan and Lejuan came up with the goals. Antwan’s goal was a great strike and worth the entry fee.

“It’s great for the club to get through to a first FA Cup final. We just wanted to get through and we’re definitely happy to be in another cup final. Hopefully we can put on a better performance next week.”

Town are making a habit of reaching cup finals, this being their fourth in the competition in the past five seasons. PHC, ten-times winners, did not make it easy for them.

“I have a lot of respect for PHC, they’ve done an excellent job this season and my hat goes off to them for what they do up there,” Jomar Wilkinson, the Town coach, said.

“They [PHC] are really evolving into something special again.”

Wilkinson had full praise for scorer Goater who must be a strong contender for MVP after taking his tally to 15 for the season. Goater scored in first-half stoppage time and then added a second on the hour before Na’eem Griffith pulled one back for PHC to keep it close going into the final half-hour.

“The game needed a goal and opened up a bit and we were able to get the second one,” Wilkinson said. “My team was definitely up for it today, we understood that we had to go out there and put a shift in.

“The field wasn’t conducive to how we wanted to play but we have to learn how to play in different ways and today was all about the effort. We’re very pleased with the boys for reaching the goal of making it to the FA final, now we’ll go back to the drawing board and get ready for Robin Hood.”

Wilkinson praised Goater’s contribution this season, the team’s top scorer before captain Angelo Simmons netted six in the final league game against Hamilton Parish.

“Goater has gone from strength to strength, but three years ago he was struggling, getting frustrated but stuck to it and hard work is paying off,” Wilkinson said.

“He’s reaping his reward now and I’m definitely proud of him. But let’s not overlook the hard work that Angelo and Damon Ming did to supply the crosses or Drewonde [Bascome] who made that beautiful release pass [for the second goal].

“It was definitely a team effort today and that’s what it’s going to take to bring this trophy home.”