Dandy Town 4 Wolves 1

After losing 4-3 to Wolves in the Dudley Eve Trophy last week, Dandy Town Hornets gained revenge as they romped to victory in the first match of the Premier Division season at Goose Gosling Field on Saturday night.

Jahkari Furbert produced a stellar performance for Town, creating a hat-trick of assists before closing out the scoring himself to give coach Kyle Lightbourne a bright start to the season.

“It feels good to get that first victory under your belt and I am happy for that but we still have work to do,” Lightbourne said

Town dominated the match from the opening whistle and their relentless pressure paid off when Furbert made a run down the left flank before crossing for David Jones Jr to flick the ball over Wolves goalkeeper Chiquon Smith’s head and leave Ereico Outerbridge to blast into an empty net after running in unmarked at the back post.

Minutes later, Smith pulled off a point-blank save to deny Jones as Town kept up the intensity.

Wolves nearly scored on the half-hour mark when Jahmori Martin’s header from a Jayden Browne free kick skimmed the crossbar.

Town were handed a lifeline just before the interval when Browne was bundled over from behind after Place saved his initial shot, but Wolves’s two-goal hero from Tuesday night, Morriko Iris, blasted his penalty over the bar.

Shortly after the break, Town doubled their lead when Furbert had his cross into the centre blocked but captain Tomiko Goater slammed the rebound into the net.

Furbert then set up his team’s third as his inch-perfect cross from a quickly taken free kick found the head of Outerbridge for his second goal of the game.

The introduction of Sergio Richardson brought life to a fading Wolves attack and he let his intentions be known with his first touch, forcing Place to push his dipping free-kick over the crossbar. Minutes later, Place did not heed the warning as Richardson hit a vicious strike from 30 yards which nestled in the corner of the net leaving Place stranded

Just to ensure there would be no Wolves comeback drama this time, Furbert closed out the scoring with a low drive into the bottom-left corner as time was running out.

Scorers:

Dandy Town: Outerbridge 17, 55, Goater 48, Furbert 90+2

Wolves: Richardson 75

TEAMS

Dandy Town (3-5-2): T Place 6 — E Blankendal 6, N Spence 6, T Webb 6 — E Outerbridge 7, D Leverock 6 (sub: M Issac, 82min), A Daniels 6, A Lewis 6, J Furbert 8 — T Goater 7, D Jones 7. Substitutes not used: T Smith, J Richardson-Martin, A Harvey. Booked: A Daniels

Wolves (4-2-3-1): C Smith 6 — J Minors 5 (sub: L Paynter, 79), A Brangman 6, D Bothelo 6, A Butterfield 5 (sub: T Outerbridge, 46 5) — J Martin 6 (sub: G Minors, 52 5) K Sharrieff 5— M Ming 5, K Browne 6 (sub: S Richardson, 60 8), S Wild 5 (sub: K Brangman, 46 5) — M Iris 5. Substitutions not used: L Matthews. Booked: A Butterfield, S Richardson.

Referee: D Jackson 5