Port Kembla and Shellharbour FC to battle for Bert Bampton Cup final berth

Port coach Stuart Beedie said that will only come if his team downs Shellharbour FC in Tuesday night's semifinal at Wetherall Park.

"We have to get to the final first before we can think about going one better," he said.

"Our sole focus is on Shellharbour. It's going to be a tough game for sure, but we're at home and we have to take the game to them and try and get the result to get us to the final.

"The fact the final will also be played at Wetherall Park is a bit of extra motivation for us.

"It's a prestigious event for the club to be hosting and we'd like to get both our teams in the final. Our youth side are also in the semi final tomorrow as well, so we have an opportunity to get two teams in.

"That will be the goal.

"But it's going to be a very tough game. I have a lot of respect for what Shellharbour has done over the last couple of years. They have proven they can mix it with the Premier League clubs.

"I don't want my team to think it's going to be a walkover, because it's not, we've got to play at our best to win."

Port progressed to the last four of the Cup after downing South Coast United 5-0 in the quarter-finals.

The win came in the middle of a great run of results for the Zebras, including a last-start 4-2 win over Illawarra Premier League rivals Helensburgh on Sunday.

A number of players have played their part in guiding Port to sixth spot on the ladder, most notably their Japanese striker Tetsunari Nishimura, who has been banging in the goals since joining the club midway through the season.

"We've sort of settled into quite a nice style of play and we're getting some good results. We've certainly become a lot harder to beat," Beedie said.

"I'm pretty happy with how things are progressing at the moment but it can all fall down very quickly.

"The key to our good run has probably been our consistency.

"We also signed a Japanese striker who's given us a different option up front. He's scored a couple of goals but more importantly he gives us a presence and opens up other opportunities for other players.

"Peter Yousef has also come back into the team after a long-term injury, he's improved us in the front-line and 18-year-old Zac Markovski has come and played as a centre-back.

"I have two 18-year-olds as centre backs and they are handling the Illawarra Premier League very well at the moment."

Shellharbour FC also head into the semi-final in winning form after downing fellow IPL outfit South Coast United 1-0 on Saturday.

Their coach Rod Williams said Shellharbour had been playing some very good football but just hadn't been putting away their chances in front of goal.

"We've been playing well pretty much every week for quite a while, we've just been unlucky in front of goal," he said.

"If our fortunes turn around a little bit in front of goal, I think we'd be pretty much hovering around the top five somewhere."

Williams added his players were excited and looking forward to Tuesday night's semifinal.

Shellharbour FC will miss a couple of players due to injury and suspension, including their starting goalkeeper, meaning Lucas Corbeski will again be in goal for the club, just three days after making his first-grade debut for Shellharbour FC.

"Regardless of who we have available, we try to win every game we play. It won't be any different on Tuesday night," Williams said.

The game at Wetherall Park kicks off at 8pm.

On Wednesday at 8pm the second semifinal between Tarrawanna and Bulli will be played at Memorial Park.