In a major upset, Division One side St Peter Cosmos stunned six-time champs Paradise 2-1 at the National Stadium on Sunday to seize a place in the final of the KFC Knockout Cup.
Cosmos’ opponents in the July 10 final will be ICE Wales who defeated Claytons Kola Tonic Notre Dame 3-2 in the second semi-final.
Behind a double strike from David “Popeye” Forde, Cosmos came from behind to beat Paradise after Armando Lashley had put the Christ Church side ahead in the 21st minute.
Cosmos captain Dwayne Headley set up both goals but will miss the final after he was ejected for a second bookable offence in the closing minutes.
Forde got the equaliser after 38 minutes when he ran at the Paradise defence after receiving a through ball from Headley and placed his shot past goalkeeper Jason Boxhill.
The winning goal came in the 76th minute as Forde clinically beat Boxhill after Headley went down the flank and squared a perfect ball inside the penalty area.
Despite being down to ten men, Cosmos defended stubbornly, with 17-year-old Dario Alleyne and Jason “Pie” Gilkes combining with wing backs Carli Stephens and Kareem Fredericks to keep Paradise at bay.
In the second semi, teenager Kemar Headley gave the Wales a 1-0 lead in the 31st minute, slotting home a rebound from a stinging shot by Dwayne Stanford.
Wales were forced to replace starting goalkeeper Greg Jones, who had hamstring problems, with regular custodian Bentley Springer at the start of the second half. But they doubled the score in the 58th minute when Dwayne McClean headed home a rebound after a powerful header from Paul “Soup” Lovell rebounded off the crossbar.
A few minutes earlier, Lovell had rushed another header, sending it over the bars, instead of controlling the ball and shooting after Dames goalkeeper Kareem Farrell fizzled a clearance.
Down 2-0, the Dames, who were without the experienced Rudy Grosvenor, on a one-match suspension, and the Lavine brothers – Donovan and Maradona – who were playing in the Caribbean Cup in the United States, refused to lie down and play dead.
They pulled back a goal in the 62nd minute when Carl Joseph made a telling run down the left flank and sent in a cross which teenager Diquan Adamson stabbed through the hands of Springer.
However, McClean restored the Wales’ two-goal cushion in the 70th minute, racing past right back Leon Todd and drilling a low shot in Farrell’s far corner.
Up 3-1, Wales brought on Jamar “Bird” Walters at right back for Richard Maynard to tighten up the defence.
The Carrington Village-based side had a golden chance to bury the Dames when McClean broke through the defence. But instead of going for a hat-trick, he opted to pass to Lovell in the centre of the penalty area but he skewed his attempt.
The Dames gave Wales a late scare when Adamson scored a superb volley in the second minute of what turned out to be three minutes of injury time.
But Wales held on for victory to secure their first final appearance since losing 1-0 to Paradise in the 2003 final.
