Young Men’s Social Club 1 St George’s 3

After conceding one of the Premier Division’s fastest goals after just 16 seconds, St George’s Colts recovered to score three unanswered goals against Social Club at Police Field yesterday.

Blaiz Hall scored a first-half brace followed by Jarryd Richardson’s lone second-half strike to give coach Drewonde Bascome his first league win.

“It was a good win and well deserved,” Bascome said.

“We showed character and had a good response after giving up that early goal. We have big plans for this season and will try to achieve what we can. If we keep working hard for each other and stay fit, we should be competitive.”

Social Club made a perfect start when captain Ryan Parris’s long ball forward from the opening whistle was allowed to bounce for Mical Hardtman to run on to and shoot, with the ball going under goalkeeper Jahquil Hill’s hands before the St George’s players had fully settled into their positions.

The away side should have been punished further from the restart as the ball was intercepted and knocked forward, but this time Hardtman sliced the ball from six yards out.

That served as a wake-up call for the East Enders and they settled down to find the equaliser within minutes. A misunderstanding between Social Club goalkeeper Ryan Evans and a central defender allowed Hall to react quickest and run through to tap the loose ball into the empty net.

Evans was forced into action minutes later when Hall darted inside from the right leaving two defenders in his wake before hitting a low drive, which forced the goalkeeper to push around the post.

At the other end, Hill made a brilliant save to push Zanikae Hendrickson’s curling free kick over the top.

St George’s started to play with confidence using a high press to win possession. This paid dividends as they intercepted the ball in their attacking third for Ne-jai Tucker to make a precision pass to Hall, which he took in stride and blasted past Evans on the stroke of half-time to give the East Enders a 2-1 lead at the interval.

Shortly after the restart, Social Club were the authors of their own downfall again when an attempted clearance was intercepted and the ball was played wide to Jarryd Richardson, who dribbled on an angle before squeezing the ball inside Evans’s near post to close out the scoring.

Social Club nearly scored from the restart but Hill made a save with his foot to deny Hardtman’s goalbound effort in their most threatening attack of the second half to preserve the two-goal lead.

SCORERS

Young Men’s Social Club M Hardtman 1

St George’s B Hall 11, 45, Richardson 61

TEAMS

Young Men’sSocial Club (4-2-3-1): R Evans 6 — Z Hendrickson 6, K Butterfield 5, R Parris 6, B Swan 6 (A Matthews 70 5) G Butterfield 5, J Johnson 6 — M Wilson 5 (sub: K Smith 70 5) J Hardtman 6, J Seymour 4 (sub: P Smith 12 5) — M Hardtman 7 (sub: C Woolridge, 70 5).

St George’s Colts (4-2-4-1): J Hill 6 — G Wade 5, K Minors 5, J Bassett 5, N Paynter 5 (sub: D Lodge 69 5) — N Tucker 6, K Hall 6 — A Cannonier 5 (sub: T Tucker 69 5), B Hall 8, J Richardson 7 — J Dickinson 6. Substitutes not used: O Bascome, A Joaquin-Simons, D Bascome. Booked: Bassett.

Referee: A Francis.