Devonshire Colts 0 Dandy Town 1

Devonshire Colts lost their first league game in more than a year as Dandy Town came out on top in a physical encounter at Police Field on Sunday.

Oneko Lowe’s dipping volley inflicted defeat upon last season’s unbeaten First Division champions to delight Town coach Kyle Lightbourne.

“This was a hard-fought battle today,” Lightbourne said.

“It wasn’t a great game for football. We had to dig in as neither team was going to allow the other to play. This was definitely a dogfight and I am glad that we came out on top with Lowe taking his chance well.”

The match began with high intensity from both sides. Devonshire Colts controlled the early possession, but Town quickly established a physical presence which frustrated the opposition.

Colts should have taken the lead in the thirteenth minute when a soft back-pass from centre back Mateo Isaac was intercepted by striker Sage Blair-Paynter, who got the best of a tackle with Town goalkeeper Amir Harvey but then hit his shot off the upright with an empty net at his mercy.

This miss would cost his side dearly as Town found the breakthrough a few minutes later against the run of play. An attempted clearance only made its way to the top of the box, where Lowe unleashed a dipping volley into the bottom left corner beyond the outstretched arms of diving Colts goalkeeper Jaden Mills-Furbert.

Colts should have equalised on the half-hour mark when Keino Burch received a return pass from Chemarl Henry, but his low drive was pushed around the post by the Town goalkeeper.

Some stern half-time comments from coach Ray Jones for Colts and Lightbourne may have been the reason for both teams starting the second half with more aggression and physicality.

Both teams made heavy tackles with Colts’ Jori Dublin and Town players Jahzardae Samuels and Terrance Webb going into Trinidadian referee Kwinsi Williams’s book within 20 minutes of the restart.

Colts’ dangerous attacking duo of Burch and Henry never got clicking as the Town defence held them under watchful eye with some timely tough tackling. The home side picked up the intensity in search of an equaliser forcing Town to survive a goalmouth scramble with the final shot being deflected away from goal through a maze of defensive players.

In the 75th minute, Colts’ substitute Frankie Markham thought he had found the equaliser, but his scorcher missed the goal by inches with Place rooted to the ground.

As the physical play continued, Colts’ Brandon O’Connor was given a straight red card for serious foul play when he kicked Town goalkeeper Place in the head while he was on the ground with ball in hand. This caused tempers to flare but impressive referee Williams stayed in control of the match.

Despite being a man down, Colts continued with a flurry of attacks but could not breach Town’s stubborn defence. With the last kick of the game, Colts thought they had levelled when Henry dribbled inside from the right and unleashed a firm drive, but Place was equal to the task as he made a brilliant one-handed save to his left.

SCORERS

Dandy Town: Lowe 21

TEAMS

Devonshire Colts (4-2-3-1): J Mills- Furbert 6 — J Paynter 6, J Burgess 6, J Dublin 6, D Davis 5 — T Eve 6, D Ball 5 — B O’Connor 5, C Henry 7, K Burch 4 (sub: F Markham, 64min 6) —- S Blair-Paynter 5 (sub: S Tatem, 64 5) Substitutes not used: C Berkeley, K Cann, I Naylor, J Saunders, M Salassie, S Swan, A Van Duyne. Booked: Henry, Dublin. Sent off: O’Connor.

Dandy Town Hornets (3-5-2): A Harvey 8 — T Webb 6, M Issac 6, E Blankendal 6 — J Furbert 5, N Spence 6, D Leverock 5 (sub: J Samuels, 46 5) T Goater 6, A Lewis 6 (sub: A Simmons, 72 5) — O Lowe 7, D Jones 6 (sub: T Smith, 80). Substitutes not used: A Furbert, T Gibbons. Booked: Leverock, Samuels, Webb, Harvey.

Referee: K Williams (Trinidad)