Wheway Cup: St Clement into semis as North lose their cool

A Karl Hinds hat-trick, including two second-half penalties, saw St Clement come from behind to beat Guernsey side Northerners 4-2 in their Wheway Cup quarter final.

Hinds had given the home side an early lead, but North led at the break through centre backs Chris Le Cheminant and Archie Drillot.

The contest turned ten minutes into the second half, when Hinds was tripped in the box and Ryan Lamb was shown red in the chaotic aftermath, which initially resulted in a sin-bin that was then upgraded to the sending off.

Hinds fired home the penalty to pull his team level and, with extra time looming, was on target again from the spot with two minutes to go after Le Cheminant was penalised for a handball.

With the visitors down to nine men, thanks to a sin bin, and then another red card shown to a member of the coaching staff, Notherners had lost their cool. Kushal Frankson curled in a fourth in stoppage time to complete St Clement's win and set up an all-Jersey semi-final against St Paul's.

Hinds, who netted a stunning 50 goals for Grouville last season, was on target after just 11 minutes of this last eight tie. Amid appeals for offside, he nipped in and slotted home despite goalkeeper Leroi Riley getting a firm hand to it.

The home side thought they had doubled the lead soon after, from a corner, but the whistle had long gone for a foul on Riley.

North were all square on 25 minutes, a free-kick from deep was pumped into the area and an unmarked Le Cheminant headed in with ease to make it 1-1.

St Clement could have been back ahead just minutes later but Frankson's glancing header from a corner flew wide from a few yards out. At the other end, the Guernsey outfit were regularly testing goalkeeper Ben Huelin with high, hanging balls into the box. They went ahead with seconds of the half remaining, when a wicked corner from the left was bundled in by Drillot at the far post.  

The home side were level before the hour mark when Hinds was taken out in the area and North frustrations started to show. Confusion reigned as Lamb was shown red. Having seemingly given a sin-bin, referee Richard Dyer then brandished red, possibly a second yellow for kicking the ball away, and Northerners would be forced to play the bulk of the second half with 10.

Hinds made no mistake with the penalty, but the visitors actually responded well, initially, with a man fewer in hot end-of-September conditions. Craig Young's low drive was well saved by Huelin.

At the other end, St Clement thought they had a second penalty but a handball was adjudged to be half a yard outside the area. Hinds' resulting free-kick was straight into the wall.

The Anchors were starting to take advantage of the extra man, and they did indeed have their second spot kick when Le Cheminant was penalised for handball with only a few minutes left on the clock. Skipper River Marsh was sin-binned for arguing his teammate had done little wrong, his hands had to be somewhere.

In further angry scenes on the sideline, a red was shown the way of the North technical area for words overheard by the assistant referee. Hinds was forced to wait an age but held his nerve to eventually slot in to complete his hat-trick.

Frankson's delightful curling effort bent into the far corner sealed the win for St Clement, who march on to the Wheway semis. St Paul's beat St Martin's (Guernsey) 2-1 in the day's other quarter final.

St Clement: Ben Huelin, Michael de Barros, JJ Lloyd, Joe Brophy, Louis Guillard, Ryan Campos (c), Kushal Frankson, Olly Rivers, Karl Hinds, Bruno da Silva, Finn Davidson. Subs: Will Herdman, Adam Falle, Ollie Walker, Jack Duffy-Burke.

Northerners: Leroi Riley, Danny Cooley, Ryan Lamb, River Marsh (c), Archie Drillot, Chris Le Cheminant, Simon Marley, Liam Mahon, Jack Medhurst, Craig Young, Brandon Wallace. Subs: Josh Tugby, Stuart Roussel, Luke Mollet, Auryn Le Tissier, Stuart Keltie.