HAMPSHIRE'S youth team have booked themselves a date at Eastleigh next month in the semi-finals of the FA County Youth Cup.

After beating the odds to pull off a 3-1 victory at Birmingham on Saturday, Bill Caine's young guns will be in last-four action at the Sparshatts Stadium on March 5 (1pm).

Their opponents will be East Riding, who also reached the semi-finals last year - at the expense of Hampshire!

Preparations for the Birmingham game were far from ideal. After two late withdrawals, Hampshire were hit by the loss of skipper Phil Turrell who had suffered whiplash injuries in a road accident the night before the game.

It left manager Caine with only a skeleton squad of 13 to choose from, two of whom were goalkeepers.

Even so it was Hampshire who made the bulk of the early chances and they were finally rewarded on 25 minutes when Fleet Town keeper Paul Smith lofted a free-kick deep into opposition territory. Aldershot's Dave Winfield headed it into the path of Winchester City's Ben Kneller, who cleverly lifted a shot over the advancing keeper.

Winfield again provided the headed assist as Kneller bundled home his second from a 32nd-minute corner. Then, just six minutes later, Birmingham's keeper was penalised for handling outside the area and Christchurch's Steve Bernard brilliantly drove the free kick into the top corner.

Hampshire were so dominant that they could have gone in 5-0 up at half-time, their best effort being a Mike Gosney header that crashed against the bar.

Having made a couple of half-time changes, Birmingham put Hampshire under a barrage of pressure but found keeper Smith and defenders Will Salmon, Jack Smith, Ryan Woodford and Dominic Bryan in stubborn form.

The introduction of Aldershot winger James Field almost paid dividends for Hampshire when he shot just over and both Kneller and Adam Roberts went close before Winfield was blocked out in a one-on-one.

Birmingham scored a consolation goal in injury-time with Hampshire appealing in vain for offside.

Hampshire squad: James Field, Will Salmon, David Winfield (all Aldershot Town) Mike Gosney, Adam Roberts, Ryan Woodford, Ben Kneller (all Winchester City), Paul Smith, Matt Lewis (both Fleet Town) Dominic Bryan (Brockenhurst FC) Stephen Bernard (Christchurch), Jack Smith (Cirencester Town). Sub: (not used) Henry Howes (Winchester City)