St George’s 1 Wolves 2

It was worth the wait for Wolves as the Devonshire-based club edged out St George's Colts to claim their first Premier Division victory of the season at Wellington Oval on Saturday.

First-half goals from Khari Sharrieff and Antinori Butterfield gave Wolves a 2-0 lead and despite late pressure from St George’s after they pulled a goal back through Zachary McGuire in the 83rd minute, the away side held on for a valuable victory.

Wolves started on the front foot with their mixture of high pressure and disciplined defensive line fooling their hosts in the opening stages.

The away side opened the scoring inside ten minutes when a corner taken by Devon Botelho went all the way through to the other side of the pitch, where Samario Valasse-Paul swung in a second cross, which hit the crossbar and fell to an unmarked Sharieff, who controlled the ball nicely on his thigh before swivelling to direct his effort past Troy Hall Jr at the far post.

St George's tried to respond quickly and immediately fashioned a chance when Cameron Neal fed Jahron Dickinson into space on the left-hand side. The forward sprinted past Antoine Brangman and teased a good ball to the far post, but neither Jarryd Richardson or Jarazinho Bassett could direct their efforts on target.

Wolves’s compact shape stifled St George's most technical and creative midfield players, especially captain Kashe Hall, who struggled to make a significant impact in the first half.

Instead of trying to force the ball through a congested middle third, the home side resorted to using their width and swinging crosses into the penalty area, but their lack of quality showed as most of their set pieces and dangerous moments were confidently dealt with by the promoted side.

Just before half-time Wolves doubled their lead from a well-constructed goal, with Khiari Sharrieff-Hayward spreading the play to release the speedy Torque Outerbridge. He waited a few seconds before squaring for the onrushing Butterfield to side-foot into the vacated net.

The home side knew they had to adjust their game plan to break down their stubborn opponents and find a way back into the game and they started to keep possession at the beginning of the second half, utilising the spaces that Wolves were offering them in the channels.

Kashe Hall started to find space in dangerous positions as the home side's defence pushed farther forward owing to their increased control of the match.

This good period of about 15 to 20 minutes brought young Wolves goalkeeper Gatwoine Minors into action with two reflex saves.

First, Kashe Hall was the beneficiary of a neat interchange between Richardson and Nzari Paynter in the final third, and tested Minors with a rasping effort from the edge of the penalty area.

Then Minors had to palm a strike by Ne-Jai Tucker around his near post from a similar position a few minutes later. Wolves could have made it three when Krishun Douglas picked out Morricko Iris at the back post, but he headed wide.

St George's cut the lead to one with seven minutes left when Kashe Hall fed substitute Zachary McGuire, who slipped the ball past Minors. However, Wolves were able to keep their cool and fend off any further dangerous attacks to get their valuable first win of the league campaign.

SCORERS

St George’s: McGuire 83

Wolves: Sharrieff 9, Butterfield 42

TEAMS

St George’s Colts (4-2-3-1): T Hall 5 – I Gibbons 5, T Burgess 6, N Paynter 5 (sub: M Simmons, 78min), O Bascome 5 (sub: A Simons, 46 5) – C Neal 6 (sub: J Darrell, 78), N Tucker 6 – J Richardson 5, K Hall 6, J Bassett 5 – J Dickinson 5 (sub: Z McGuire, 70 6). Substitutes not used: G Wade, T Tucker, D Lodge. Booked: McGuire.

Wolves (4-2-3-1): G Minors 6 – A Brangman 5, K Sharrieff 7, J Martin 5, D Botelho 6 (sub: K Brangman, 57 5) – K Browne 6, K Sharrieff-Hayward 5 (sub: M Iris, 57) – S Valasse-Paul 6 (sub: S Wild, 75), L Paynter 5, T Outerbridge 6 (sub: K Douglas, 75) – A Butterfield 6. Substitutes not used: L Matthews. Booked: Outerbridge, Sharrieff.

Referee: D Jackson.