North Village 4 Somerset Trojans 0

North Village took advantage of several defensive mistakes to dominate Somerset Trojans at Bernard Park yesterday.

Inside two minutes, they nearly started the scoring, when Justin Bell skipped past defender Zico Saltus-Seymour and found Jaizel Smith-DeShields, who skewed his effort wide of the far post.

The home side, the 2019 Premier Division champions, took advantage of a poor start by the visitors by continually pushing into the final third. Tre Ming and Vernon Perinchief linked up in midfield, before the former picked out Nacori Smith on the left with a lofted pass, but the winger was unable to take it into his stride.

Midway through the first half, Village opened the scoring. Again Ming attempted to pick out Smith but his pass was originally read by Azar Morrissey, but the Trojans goalkeeper failed to gather it cleanly and Smith took full advantage by rounding him and finishing into the empty net from a tight angle.

Just before half time, the hosts doubled their advantage. Ming started the move with his pass to Tahmi Williams, who had time and space to chip a through ball in for Jaizel Smith-Deshields to finish past Morrissey from close range.

Somerset only had one clear-cut openin, when Haile Eve was found well by Jeze Butterfield, but his effort was easily blocked and Village cleared their lines.

After the hosts gained the two-goal advantage, the match was halted for around fifteen minutes as a spectator directed abusive language to referee Amaury Majors following his decision not to award a penalty after Somerset midfielder Damon Ming was challenged inside the opposition box.

The visitors knew they had to find the correct balance between discipline and attack in their second-half approach, and their best opening of the day came when Butterfield laid off for skipper Makai Joell to pass into space for Kameron McNeil, but the winger shot wide.

The visitors started to push the defence toward the halfway line with about half an remaining but they were punished on two occasions.

First, a powerful forward pass by Perinchief was allowed to run past Seth Somner into the path of Tre Ming, who rounded Morrissey and tapped into the empty net. Midway through the second half, the hosts recycled the ball from a corner on the right flank, and Smith drove a low ball across the six-yard line for Tahmi Williams to finish into the far post.

Despite having the match wrapped up inside 60 minutes, Village pushed to score more and they could have had a fifth when substitute Pierre Smith was found by Smith-Deshields but headed just over the bar. Makai Joell found substitute DeAndre Wainwright, but the striker failed to test goalkeeper Detre Bell for what would have been no more than a consolation for Trojans.

North Village head coach Kenny Thompson was pleased with the win but will be encouraging his side to be more assertive on the ball.

“We were quite dominant” Thompson said. “We just need to be more consistent in our decision making. The team is performing well and that will get us a long way.

We aspire to win titles. It is still October, but we will see what happens.”

SCORERS

North Village

N Smith 22, Smith-Deshields 41, Ming 57, Williams 63

TEAMS

North Village (3-5-2): D Bell 6 – T Wilson 6, V Perinchief 6 (sub: T Bean 84), J Harvey 6 – K Knights 6, T Ming 7 (sub: I Simmons 65 5), S Somner 6, J Smith-Deshields 7, T Williams 6 – N Smith 7, J Bell 6 (sub: P Smith 65 5)

Subs not used: T Fray, K Harrison, S Lambert, O Deshields; Booked: Somner, Smith

Somerset Trojans (4-2-3-1): A Morrissey 4 – Jaden Ratteray-Smith 3, C Durham 4, Jaz Ratteray-Smith 3, Z Saltus-Seymour 3 – M Joell 5, D Ming 5 – H Eve 4 (sub: J Corday 43 5), J Butterfield 4, K McNeil 5 (sub: D Swan 75) – M Aden 4 (sub: D Wainwright 53 5)

Subs not used: J Shields, K Joyiens, J Brangman; Booked: Joell, Butterfield

Referee: A Majors