Devonshire Colts 4 Young Men’s Social Club 0

Keino Burch scored twice to lead Devonshire Colts to victory against Social Club at a blustery Police Field on Saturday.

Colts stamped their authority despite Social Club holding an extremely deep defensive line in an attempt to close down all passing lanes into dangerous positions.

Their main objective was to utilise the pace and skill of Malique Wilson and Pierre Smith on the counter-attack, but they were unable to fire thanks to a lack of cohesion and quality they tried to play through their opponents.

About ten minutes into the game Social Club decided to come out of their shell and set up in a mid-block, with the midfield positioned just  inside their own half as Colts enjoyed the majority of possession.

Social Club were far too predictable on the fleeting occasion they got into the opposition half, forcing the ball to the right at least 60 percent of the time in the opening stages.

This made it extremely easy for Colts to shift their defensive shape across and shut down the little danger that Wilson and Trey Tucker posed on the right flank.

Colts constantly probed with the majority of control and finally opened the scoring on 17 minutes after a poor defensive mistake. Jahkeylo Burgess found Daniel Ball in space on the left side and Jakida Richardson missed his challenge, allowing Ball to square to the six-yard box, where Burch bundled the loose ball through a congested area into the net.

Social Club finally started to use the left side more often and their one promising attack in the first half came when Jinairo Johnston found Pierre Smith, but the winger failed to get the correct weight on his through pass to Josh Hardtman.

Just before half-time, Colts doubled their lead in controversial circumstances as Brandon O'Connor attempted to find the diagonal run of Chemarl Henry.

His pass was deflected into the sky by Callon Woolridge and Burch controlled it before driving into space and finishing low into the far corner past Tuzo. The linesman originally judged Burch offside but referee Kentoine Jennings overruled his assistant and allowed the goal to stand, much to the chagrin of Social Club supporters.

Social Club created their best chance of the afternoon midway through the second half when Josh Hardtman switched the play to the left via Smith, who found the overlapping Richardson to cut the ball back for Johnson but his effort failed to test Colts goalkeeper Jaden Mills-Furbert.

Colts captain Chemarl Henry made it three with 15 minutes remaining before Ball got his second assist of the day when he squared for O'Connor to wrap up the scoring in stoppage time with his third goal of the campaign.

SCORERS

Devonshire Colts: Burch 15, 42, Henry 74, O’Connor 90+1

TEAMS

Devonshire Colts (4-2-3-1): J Mills-Furbert 6 – D Davis 6 (sub: I Greaves, 79min), J Dublin 7, M Selassie 6 (sub: A Van Duyne, 84), S Burgess 5 – J Burgess 6, J Paynter 5 – B O’Connor 6, K Burch 7 (sub: S Burchall, 79), D Ball 6 – C Henry 6. Substitutes not used: S Blair-Paynter, C Berkeley, J Saunders, E Weldon.

Social Club (4-2-3-1): S Tuzo 5 – T Tucker 5, C Woolridge 6 (sub: T Butterfield, 79), K Butterfield 5, J Richardson 5 – J Johnston 5, M Hardtman 5 (sub: B Swan, 84) – M Wilson 5 (sub: A Matthews 63 4), G Butterfield 5, P Smith 5 (sub: M Rudo 79) – J Hardtman 5. Substitutes not used: K Gilbert, J James-Seymour, K Smith. Booked: M Hardtman, K Butterfield, Woolridge.

Referee: K Jennings