Dandy Town brushed off the disappointment of their mid-week Martonmere Cup mauling at the hands of Devonshire Cougars to record their first victory of the new Premier Division season at St. John?s Road yesterday.

A first-half strike from midfielder Jared Peniston gave the Hornets a deserved lead after 23 minutes, before a second-half penalty from new-boy Heys Wolfe gave the home side a welcome confidence boost after losing their opening two league games ? not to mention the 5-0 humiliation inflicted by Cougars in Somerset on Wednesday night.

The result means Devarr Boyles? men leapfrog St. David?s, Devonshire Cougars and PHC ? who didn?t play yesterday ? into fifth place having previously been languishing at the bottom while the Warriors are now last with only one point from four matches.

Football may well be the ?beautiful game?, but yesterday?s lacklustre and scrappy encounter certainly never threatened to live up to that billing.

Watched by a reasonably healthy but surprisingly subdued crowd, it was obvious from the start that Town were the superior outfit ? with the long-limbed Lashun Dill in particular causing the St. David?s back line immediate problems with his pacey and determined runs down the right flank.

The visitors, by contrast, looked distinctly limited going forward and relied mainly on the aerial threat posed by the likes of Andre Russell and Desmond Crockwell from set-pieces.

Their defensive frailty was plain for all to see as well, as Town continually got away with taking a succession of corners short with virtually no opposition ? a tactic which ultimately paid dividends as Peniston picked up one such corner on the edge of the penalty area before unleashing a right-foot shot which went under the diving St. David?s ?keeper Chris Douglas and into the net.

Chances remained few and far between both before and after the break, with the players struggling to control the ball first time on what has to be one of the worst playing surfaces in top-tier football.

But having looked impotent in attack for most of the game, St. David?s finally carved out their one and only guilt-edged chance through forward Corey Garcia, who totally outpaced veteran defender David Lawler after 60 minutes to get himself into a one-on-one situation with Town ?keeper Jason Smith ? only to screw his shot into the side-netting.

The frustration of the afternoon then appeared to get to St. David?s? Dejaun Paynter ? who was sent off with just under 15 minutes remaining for swearing at referee Anthony Francis ? with Wolfe stepping up moments later to seal the three points with a well-taken penalty kick after being felled in the area by Kijuan Franks. J.Smith, K.Mundy, D.Zuill, D.Lawler, A.Lowe, O.Steede (L.Holder 20), S.Tuzo (M.Parsons 57), L.Dill, H.Wolfe, J.Peniston, C.Anderson (M.Smith 57): C.Douglas, A.Lugo, K.Franks, J.Minors (Ankoma Cannonier 60), Angelo Cannonier, D.Paynter, L.Marshall, C.Garcia, D.Crockwell (F.Crockwell 21), J.Lovell (D.Baker 83), A.Russell: D.Paynter: L.Dill (Dandy Town), C.Garcia (St. David?s) Anthony Francis