North Village 3 Devonshire Colts 0

North Village made a resounding comeback after last week’s disappointing loss to beat Devonshire Colts 3-0 at Wellington Oval on Saturday.

London Steede’s first-half brace followed by a clinical, second-half strike from substitute Jalen Harvey secured the three points for Village much to the delight of coach Cal Dill Jr.

“We had a good game today and did well to bounce back from last week’s defeat,” Dill said.

“Colts had some chances but didn’t score and fortunately for us, we took ours. We have some college kids coming back, which would give me headaches in selecting the starting XI, but it’s a good headache. That means all the players would have to be up to their level to earn a starting spot.”

The game started at a very fast pace with each team having a promising attempt in the opening minute with both final passes rolling across the goalmouths beyond the outstretched boot of their respective forwards.

Village opened the scoring in the fourth minute when a diagonal ball to the back post found Liam Evans, who unselfishly knocked the ball into the centre for Steede to sidestep his marker before slotting the ball into the lower right corner of Colts goalkeeper Jaden Mills-Furbert’s net.

The tempo remained high with each team zoning in on goal. Tre Ming forced Mills-Furbert to make a diving save to push his goalbound effort around the post, while at the other end Chemari Henry unleashed a piledriver, which beat Village goalkeeper Detre Bell for pace but hit the corner of the upright before bouncing back into play.

Colts captain Teniko Eve thought he had found the equaliser midway through the first half but his dipping cross-shot was tipped over the crossbar by an alert Bell.

Village then doubled their lead against the run of play when Amir Dill raced to the touchline before pulling the ball back for Steede to smash into the roof of the net to score his and the team’s second to take a 2-0 lead into the half.

Jai Bean narrowly missed the upright within five minutes of the restart as Village continued to play with high intensity and Colts were unfortunate not to reduce the deficit as Keino Burch and Eve were one step behind respective through balls.

Colts’ uphill task got even more challenging when Deszion Davis was dismissed in the 60th minute for a second cautionable offence as Barbadian referee Jamar Springer did well to maintain control of this encounter.

Village capitalised on their one-man advantage with substitute Harvey scoring the goal of the game with a clinical finish. After controlling a diagonal cross, Harvey drilled a left-foot scorcher from 20 yards, which sailed into the roof of the net leaving Mills-Furbert with no chance.

SCORERS

North Village: Steede 4, 29, J Harvey 69

TEAMS

North Village (4-2-3-1): D Bell 7 — L Evans 6, R Sampson 6, T Harris 4 (sub: J Basden, 19min 5), K Harrison 5 (sub: K Knights, 66 5) — T Ming 6, S Spence 6 — A Dill 6 (sub: J Harvey, 57 7), L Steede 8, A DeShields-Tankard 6 — J Bean 6. Substitutes not used: T Bean, I Simmons, J Hayward.

Devonshire Colts (4-2-3-1): J Mills-Furbert 6 — D Davis 4, Z Simmons 6, J Dublin 6, S Burgess 5 — T Eve 6 (sub: S Blair-Paynter, 84), A Van Duyne 5 (sub: J Salaam, 65 5) — K Burch 6 (sub: S Burchall, 77), D Ball 6, B O’Connor 5 (sub: M Selassie, 65 5) — C Henry 7. Substitutes not used: C Berkeley, J Saunders, S Swan, E Weldon. Booked: Davis Sent off: Davis.

Referee: J Springer (Barbados)