Robin Hood 0 Dandy Town 0

Robin Hood and Dandy Town settled for a share of the spoils in goalless draw at Goose Gosling field on Saturday night.

Neither team could bemoan the result as both struggled to find any real rhythm in a fast-paced encounter that lacked control at times, but Hood coach John Barry Nusum was positive in his outlook.

“A win would have been ideal to add pressure to the teams around us in the table, but considering this was not one of our best performances, we will definitely take the point which keeps us in the top position at the moment,” Nusum said.

The game started off quite promisingly for the neutral spectator, with both teams carving out some early chances and good passages of play.

Shakir Smith, the Hood winger, had the first opportunity five minutes in, as he was on the end of a Tomiko Goater cross, but connected poorly with his first-time effort at the back post.

Two minutes later, Goater was down the right flank again, this time finding Smith with a pull back at the top of the box, but the latter drove his shot inches over the bar.

At the other end, Angelo Simmons found space inside the left side of the box, but skewed his angled shot wide of the far post.

In the 25th minute Eusebio Blankendal made a determined run down the left flank and was almost rewarded when his attempted cross skipped off the crossbar and out of bounds.

As the half wore on, chances became less frequent and both coaches decided to make changes at the interval, looking for a spark.

Che Brangman, who replaced Smith, almost had an immediate impact but goalkeeper Treadwell Gibbons made a good double save. He could only block the initial shot that came off the boot of Lejaun Simmons, but was up sharply to save Brangman’s rebound effort as well.

Clay Darrell was a half-time substitute for Town, replacing Mohamed Aden, but had little chance to make a mark as a clash of heads with a Hood defender Antwun Russell left him with a gash on his head.

The forward re-entered the match after receiving treatment, but was eventually replaced as a precautionary measure.

Neither team were looking very dangerous in open play at this point, but Hood found some success with set pieces and had two opportunities late in the match.

Jaylon Bather went close when he was on the end of a Russell free kick but his flick went just over the bar, and just before the end, Gibbons came up trumps again when he parried another well-struck shot from Simmons to save the point for Town.

TEAMS

Robin Hood (4-3-3): J Simons — C Castle, J Bather, A Russell, L Steede — L Evans, C Ryan, A Nelson (sub: P Parsons, 69min) — L Simmons, S Smith (sub: S Brangman, 46) , T Goater. Substitutes not used: E Outerbridge, D Williams, T Tyrell.

Dandy Town (4-3-3): T Gibbons, E Blankendal, S Darrell, E Moore, J Bean-Lindo, L Emery (sub: O Wilson 60), J Chapman, J Furbert, E Trott, A Simmons, M Aden (sub: C Darrell, 46, sub: A Furbert, 80). Substitutes not used: N Smith, J Amory, I Blankendal, E Swan.

Referee: T Simons.