Hornets close in on title triumph
North Village 3St David’s 2St David’s coach Kameron Fox remained upbeat about his team’s chances of survival after their gut-wrenching defeat to North Village at Bernard Park yesterday.Sammy DeGraff, Jason Lee and Tyrell Burgess scored for the hosts, while Fiqre Crockwell and Dominique Lambert were on target for the Islanders.Fox believed nerves got the better of his men as they succumbed to Burgess’ late winner.“It seems like every time we get ourselves back into a game, lack of experience seems to come to the fore and we let in goals right after scoring,” said Fox.“We have had a case of the jitters, Village are a big team and in a game that means a lot to us, we seemed to get a bit nervous and make unnecessary mistakes at crucial times.”It wasn’t until the 42nd minute that the deadlock was broken, with Rams skipper DeGraff having the simple task of sweeping home a Ralph Bean cross.The visitors came to life in the second half, however, and were back in the match in the 50th minute when referee Anthony Francis deemed Burgess had handed the ball in the area.Fiqre Crockwell stepped up and slotted his effort past Jason Williams. Five minutes later, though, Lee put Village back in front when his shot from 12 yards hit the inside of the near post before nestling in the back of the net.St David’s leveller came courtesy of Lambert in the 88th minute, however, not adhering to Fox’s calls from the sideline to defend in numbers, the Islanders gave up a needless free kick just outside their area, with Bean again supplying for Burgess’ winner in the final minute.North Village: J Williams, D Tankard, T Burgess, D Grant, L Alexander (L Dill, 65), T Watson, S Degraff, R Bean, P Smith, K Dill (J Smith-Deshields, 65), J LeeSubstitutes not used: V Tankard, J Boyles,Goals: DeGraff, 42, Lee, 55, Burgess, 90St David’s: C Richardson, A Lugo, A Cannonier, D Butterfield, K Bean, A Crockwell, F Crockwell, O Minors, T Webb-Caisey, D Lambert, Zach (J Woodley, 60)Goals: Crockwell, 50, Lambert, 88Referee: A FrancisMan of the Match: S DeGraff (Village)Southampton Rangers 1Dandy Town 2Dandy Town have one hand on the Digicel Premier Division trophy after Damon Ming’s late strike saw them beat Southampton Rangers at Southampton Oval yesterday.With PHC losing on Friday night, the door was open for Hornets to push their lead at the top the standings to eight points with just three games to go.Angelo Simmons put the visitors up midway through the first half, and the lead was held until the 70th minute when Ezekiel Stoneham stroked home to level matters.But veteran winger Ming sealed the victory for Town late in the game to extend his side’s lead at the top.“It was a hard fought game and we held our nerve to get the result that puts us in a good position to win the league,” said Ming. “It was never going to be easy but we are happy with the win and are only a few points away from reaching our goal of winning the league title.”