North Village 0 Dandy Town 4

Dandy Town are through to a fifth Dudley Eve Trophy final in ten seasons after a comfortable win over North Village in the semi-final last night at National Stadium.

Captain Angelo Simmons netted twice and Cecoy Robinson and Jahtino Richardson-Martin one apiece as the defending champions outclassed their opponents, giving themselves a tremendous psychological boost ahead of Saturday night’s match against the same opponents.

Town finished second in the league to Village last season, but they were clearly the better team last night, after taking firm control with three goals in the second half. In the end they even had the luxury of bringing on two youngsters late in the game, as Village were well beaten.

Town had the better of the early possession and went close to taking the lead in the fourteenth minute when Judah Chapman had his shot from the left side of the box deflected for a corner off the legs of goalkeeper Tahj Bell at the near post.

The best of Village’s chances came midway through the half when Azende Furbert, the Town midfielder, was robbed of the ball, and the quick break saw defender Quintonio Lema’s cross into the box put over the bar by Keishen Bean.

Bean went close again moments later as he fired over the crossbar with another good chance inside the box.

Village were just starting to come into their own when they were stunned by the opening goal from Town late in the half. Chapman put a pass over the defence to the far post for Richardson Martin to cross into the six-yard box where Simmons side-footed past Bell.

Town kept up the intensity at the start of the second half, as they went in search of more goals, taking firm control with two goals in the space of five minutes early in the half.

The lead was doubled after some nice touches in their build-up saw Robinson turn and strike a low shot into the far post from the right side of the box, with the diving Bell getting a slight touch with his fingertips but unable to keep it out.

The game was in the bag for Town when Simmons scored his second of the night from the penalty spot after David Jones was knocked over in the box by Terryn Fray.

Simmons went close to completing a hat-trick two minutes later when Richardson-Martin’s through-ball put him behind the defence. But his shot was turned around the far post by Bell.

Richardson-Martin completed the scoring himself in the 74th minute when Robinson was given space on the right to chase down a through-ball and get inside the box before crossing to the midfielder to plant into the roof of the net at the far post.

Town were able to bring on youngsters Matthew Mello-Cann and Enrique Swan for Simmons and Ernest Trott in the closing minutes.

This was the second 4-0 loss for Village at National Stadium, after getting trounced there by Southampton Rangers in the Charity Cup to launch the season.

They avenged that defeat in the league but this Town outfit, bang in form with a 100 per cent Premier Division record going into Saturday’s clash, may prove an altogether different proposition.

SCORERS

Dandy Town: Simmons 38, 58 pen, Robinson 53, Richardson-Martin 74

TEAMS

North Village (4-3-3): T Bell — Q Lema, Z Robinson, T Fray, K Knights — J Briers, T Williams (sub: P Smith, 69min), I Simmons — J Smith-DeShields (sub: R Rochester, 75), K Bean, D Daniels. Substitutes not used: A Darrell, N Araujo, S Jennings, A Booth. Booked: Knights.

Dandy Town (4-3-3): J Manders — E Blankendal, J Bean-Lindo, E Trott (sub: E Swan, 80), T Webb — J Chapman, A Furbert, J Richardson-Martin — C Robinson, D Jones (sub: L Emery, 71), A Simmons (sub: M Mello-Cann, 78). Substitutes not used: N Carmichael, S Darrell, D Scraders, J Rosser.

Referee: D Jackson