WESTON overcame their recent league troubles to set up a derby clash against Clevedon in the final of the Somerset Premier Cup.

Following a 1-0 semi-final win against Brislington on Tuesday night, the Seagulls will now face their old rivals in May.

The result provides welcome relief to the team after they slumped to another Blue Square South defeat, falling 1-0 to Bromley on Saturday.

At Hayes Lane Bromley, who desperately needed a result to avoid being pulled into the relegation zone, started the brightest with Hakeem Araba testing goalkeeper Lloyd Irish in the opening minutes.

Despite efforts from both sides, the first half remained goalless, but after 62 minutes former Millwall midfielder Ali Fuseini broke the deadlock for the home side as he controlled a pass from Albert Jarrett’s cross and fired past Irish from 15 yards.

Weston improved, and Chris Young, Marcus Duharty and Brett Trowbridge were brought on as the Seagulls started to dominate proceedings.

Despite skipper Ben Kirk seeing his goal-bound header cleared off the line by Bromley’s Liam Harwood, the home side held on for a victory that saw Weston drop to 12th place.

On Tuesday, manager Craig Laird shuffled his pack against Toolstation Western League Premier Division side Brislington, bringing in Marc McGregor, Young and Trowbridge.

The match at Iron Mould Lane was spoiled as a spectacle by referee Robert Abrams, who awarded 48 free-kicks in a game which passed with hardly a bad foul.

Despite early pressure, the home side never really tested Irish in the Weston goal, and the Seagulls scored the decisive goal after 28 minutes.

Kane Ingram’s corner was head across goal to Jamie Price on the far post, who kept it in play and knocked it back across the six yard box for Matt Villis to tap in.

Ingram cracked a free-kick against the Brislington crossbar later in the half and Trowbridge did the same in the second half, but the scoreline stayed the same to put Weston through to their second consecutive final.

The match is likely to be played on May 1, with a venue as-yet undecided.

Last year the Seagulls won the trophy for the first time with a 1-0 victory over League One Yeovil Town, and Laird says he is hoping for more of the same from his players this season.

He said: “We’re looking forward to playing and I think we’ve got a great chance of winning the cup again, although Clevedon will obviously have something to say about that.

“It should be a great occasion for everybody involved with both clubs, we’re really looking forward to it.

“But we don’t want to let that distract us from the league. We want to try and finish as strongly as possible.”

Laird also revealed the club had failed in a bid to bring two players, a centre-back and a midfielder, both from Blue Square Premier clubs, to the Woodspring Stadium before Friday’s transfer deadline.

But he added that he was ‘hopeful’ both would sign for the club at the end of the season.

? WESTON have a busy Easter weekend, travelling to Salisbury City on Saturday looking for a Blue Square South double and on Bank Holiday Monday (3pm), they host Eastleigh.