North Village 2 Dandy Town 0

North Village climbed to the top of the Premier Division table as second-half goals from Jai Bean and Jonté Smith ended Dandy Town’s seven-match unbeaten run at Bernard Park on Saturday.

Bean converted a penalty in the 66th minute before Smith secured the three points in the 73rd minute. It was Town’s second defeat of the season and the first since they were beaten 1-0 by their title rivals at Goose Gosling Field on October 6.

The victory moved Village to 22 points, two ahead of Town, who still have a game in hand and Calvin Dill Jr’s side will heading into the new week at the summit of the Premier Division unless PHC win by more than seven goals against Wolves at Bernard Park on Sunday.

Dill was elated to bounce from a loss to St George’s to keep themselves firmly in the championship race.

“The players gave me more than we asked for as the coaching staff,” the Village interim head coach said.

“What we told them is that this is our home field and you don’t let anybody come to your house and take what doesn't belong to them.

“It was a valuable three points that put us at the top of the table. Even though we lost last week, what matters is that we got a win today.”

Kyle Lightbourne, whose side had picked up five wins and two draws since that loss to Village, did not view the defeat as a major setback to their championship ambitions.

“I don’t think it’s much of a setback,” the Town coach said. “We would have loved to go undefeated in the second half of the season, but that’s the way it goes.

“It was a very cagey game and It always looked like whoever scored the first goal would go on to win it.

“Their goalkeeper made two outstanding saves. They got a penalty, the same as when they beat us last time, and they scored again shortly after that.

“Momentum is very important in football, I said to my guys that there’s always a banana peel around the corner. You know in football these things happen and those days come, it’s how we react now.

“We just have to use our upcoming matches and get something out of them. We have to use that game in hand over Village and make sure that it counts.”

The opening 45 minutes were even, with the best chance falling to Town captain Tomiko Goater, whose effort on the stroke of half-time rattled the upright.

Village had a great opportunity when Z'Dao Dill forced Jaiden Manders into a good save with a dipping effort from a free kick.

Smith the threaded a beautiful pass to Bean, who was impeded by Manders inside the box and while the Town goalkeeper dived the correct way for the penalty, he could not stop the Bermuda forward from scoring his seventh league goal of the season.

Seven minutes later, substitute Jalen Harvey’s cross from the left provided Smith with an easy task to score his eighth goal of the campaign.

SCORERS

North Village: Bean 66 pen, Smith 73

TEAMS

North Village (4-4-2): D Bell 6 – L Evans 6, J Basden 6, T Fray 6, K Harrison 6 – J Chapman 6 (sub: T Ming, 74min), L Steede-Jackson 6 (sub: K Knights, 80), S Spence, Z Dill 6 (sub: J Harvey, 67 6) – J Bean 7, J Smith 7. Substitutes not used: Z Jennings, I Simmons, Jabari Hayward, Jabri Hayward. Booked: Harvey

Dandy Town: (3-5-2): J Manders 5 – E Blankendal 6, D Leverock 6, T Webb 5 – E Moore 5 (sub: N Spence, 59 5), A Lewis 5 (sub: J Samuels, 59 5), L Outerbridge 5, E Outerbridge 6 (sub: O Wilson, 82), T Goater 6 (sub: N Ntalu, 82) – A Simmons 5, D Jones 5. Substitutes not used: M Isaac, A Daniels, T Place, P Silvester. Booked: Moore.

Referee: D Parchment (Jamaica).