FALMOUTH, Trelawny - August Town qualified for their first major football semi-finals after beating Village United 6-2 on aggregate after a 2-2 draw in Thursday's quarter-final return-leg of the Red Stripe Champions Cup at the Elliston Wakeland Centre in Trelawny.

The winners rallied from a goal down to lead 2-1 before having to settle for a draw as Village United, trailing 4-0 after last week's first leg at UWI, wasted several easy chances including a second-half penalty.

August Town's goalkeeper, Damion Campbell, pulls off a fine save to deny Village United's Ian McAnuff (not seen) from the penalty spot in Thursday's Red Stripe Champions Cup quarter-final match at Elliston Wakeland Centre in Trelawny. The match ended 2-2, but August Town advanced to the semi-finals 6-2 on aggregate, having defeated the host 4-0 in the first match. (Photo: Paul Reid)

Kristopher Stone, who scored both goals for Village United, missed several chances, while Daniel Shaw and Kadian Lecky scored for August Town.
Winning coach Dominique Spaulding said his team did
not play as well as expected, but he was happy for the win nonetheless.

August Town, who ousted Reno in the previous round, have won five games in a row in both the Red Stripe and National Premier League.

According to Spaulding, "It feels good to be there in the semis as a newly promoted team and for the entire club".
He said the players failed to condition themselves after the big first-leg lead, "coming down with a four-goal advantage the players were too comfortable", he said. "We achieved the objective and we did not want to lose,"
he added.

Village's Fitzroy Reid bemoaned the wasted chances. "We were rushing the game. We spoke about it at the half-time break, patience in front of goal. We created the chances but did not convert."

The home team got off to a promising start when Stone fired them into the lead after five minutes, but Shaw levelled with a terrific free kick from 25 yards in the 13th minute.
Lecky gave August Town the lead in the 32nd when he headed powerfully past Elvis Hart and effectively killed off the contest.

Village did not give up however, but kept running at August Town and created no fewer than four clear chances in the second half.
Village were awarded a penalty in the 58th minute, but Damion Campbell brilliantly saved Ian McAnuff's poor shot.
Stone missed a sitter when he side-footed wide in the 72nd, with Campbell well out of position.

Everette Mullings missed another good chance a minute later when he got past the offside trap but tapped the ball softly to Campbell.

Stone finally got his second in the 89th minute when he capitalised on a defender's error to fire home.
In another game on Thursday, Boys' Town reached the semi-finals 2-1 on aggregate following a 1-1 tie against Waterhouse in their second-leg match at Collie Smith Drive.

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