Paget 4 Young Men’s Social Club 1

Diaje Hart scored twice as Paget maintained their composure to cruise to their second victory over Young Men's Social Club this week.

After making it into the Dudley Eve Trophy final at the expense of their opponents on Wednesday night, the home side started off more assertive in their passing as Social Club were caught between the high press and a mid-block, leaving far too much space in the middle for Tristen Davis and others to play the ball around with little fuss.

When the away side did press, there was often a weak link and that allowed Paget to keep the ball in positive territory. Social also had to contend with an apparent knee injury to midfielder Marcus Johnson, who was replaced by Terron Butterfield after just 11 minutes.

Social Club finally tightened up their pressure midway through the first half and gained territory advantage in pushing their line toward the centre circle.

However, Paget then exploited the space left behind using quick wingers Nelson Carpenter and Shakir Smith, with the latter heavily involved in Paget’s penalty breakthrough.

Smith laid off quickly for Daniel Cook to play Diaje Hart through in the left channel, who whipped in a low cross for Smith. However, his effort was handled by Social defender Trey Tucker, with referee Martin Wyer awarding the home side a penalty. Hart made no mistake from 12 yards out, planting his sidefoot effort past the despairing dive of Saki Tuzo.

Less than a minute later, Lions doubled their lead when Cook picked out Nelson Carpenter on the wing. He attempted to swing a cross into Omari Tucker, which was poorly cleared, and Hart controlled the loose ball and cut onto his strong foot to smash a rasping drive with zero backlift into the far-right corner past a stunned Tuzo.

Social Club were offered a lifeline back into the game with about ten minutes remaining in the first half as they ramped up their pressure away from the ball and sped up their tempo in possession.

They cut the Paget lead in half before half time when captain Ryan Parris manufactured some space near the penalty spot to glance home a corner from the left side.

The match opened up and became more physical in the second half, but Paget showcased much more composure in all facets in the final 25 minutes after each side traded attacks with no real quality.

Tristen Davis unleashed one of his signature driven strikes from about 25 yards out to make it 3-1 in the 73rd minute, while Shakir Smith fired in from about five yards deeper in stoppage time to close out an emphatic Paget win.

SCORERS:

Paget: Hart 31 pen, 32; Davis 73; Smith 90+3

Social Club: Parris 35

Paget Lions (4-2-3-1): J Morrissey 5 – K Simons 5 (sub: A Grant, 69min 6), R Deshields 6, J Carpenter 6, D Frost 5 (sub: D Swan, 69 5) – T Davis 6, D Cook 6 – N Carpenter 6, D Hart 7 (sub: M Wade, 78), S Smith 6 – O Tucker 5 (sub: K Leverock, 53 5). Substitutes not used: D Joell, D Stovell, O Deshields.

Young Men’s Social Club (4-2-3-1): S Tuzo 5 – K Smith 5, K Butterfield 5, C Woolridge 5, T Tucker 4 – M Johnson 4 (sub: T Butterfield, 11 5), A Matthews 5 (sub: J Mallory, 63 5) – B Swan 5, R Parris 6, M Wilson 5 – J James Seymour 5. Substitutes not used: G Butterfield, R Evans, M Rudo. Booked: Woolridge, Parris, K Butterfield.

Referee: M Wyer