Dandy Town 1 Paget 2

Paget’s Nelson Carpenter produced a clinical finish to end title-chasing Dandy Town’s hopes of going deep in another competition at Goose Gosling Field on Saturday night.

Carpenter scored in the 78th minute to give Paget a two-goal advantage and despite Town pulling a goal back through Nathan Ntalu, who was later sent off, Lions held on to come out on top in this first-round match..

The match started as a scrappy affair with neither team dominating possession or testing the other’s goalkeeper. Midway through the half, Ntalu had a golden opportunity to put Town ahead after dribbling through on goal, but he hesitated and allowed a Paget defender to make a late challenge and take the ball off his foot.

At the other end, Paget sounded a warning when captain Diaje Hart’s drive smashed off the upright and they took a deserved lead in the 40th minute after a good build-up down the right flank. Hart’s pull-back was met by Aquino Grant, who kept his composure to hit a low drive without breaking stride with the ball nestling into the bottom right corner of Town goalkeeper Toran Place’s net.

Town picked up their tempo after the restart and created numerous chances to score but veteran Lions goalkeeper Shaquille Bean demonstrated his skill and ability between the post to clutch Ereico Outerbridge’s mistimed header before diving full length to deny Tomiko Goater and then Jahzardae Samuels.

Having survived the pressure, Paget doubled their lead against the run of play from Carpenter’s brilliant strike. After receiving a return pass from his throw-in, the full back hit a right-foot thunderbolt from 30 yards, which curled into the top left corner of the net, leaving Place helpless.

Town never gave up and would finally breach Bean’s net when Ntalu placed a firm header into the bottom left corner from a Jahkari Furbert corner.

As time ticked down, Town continued to buzz around the Lions net in search of a late equaliser, but Bean continued to shine using his reflexes to deny Furbert from close range after a goalmouth scramble to see his team through into the next round.

Goalscorer Ntalu was sent off four minutes from time for a second cautionable offence, with Town finishing the match with ten men.

SCORERS

Dandy Town: Ntalu 82

Paget: Grant 40, N Carpenter 78

TEAMS

Dandy Town (3-5-1-1): T Place 6 — E Blankendal 6, D Leverock 6, T Webb 6 — E Outerbridge 5 (sub: N Spence, 69min 5), J Samuels 6, T Goater 6, E Moore 5, J Furbert 6 — N Ntalu 6 — D Jones 5. Substitutes not used: A Lewis, A Daniels, A Harvey, O Wilson. Booked: Ntalu, Samuels, K Lightbourne (coach). Sent off: Ntalu.

Paget (4-2-3-1): S Bean 8 — N Carpenter 7, J Carpenter 6, R DeShields 6, K Durrant 5 (sub: K Simons, 79) — D Cook 6, D Joell 6 — D Hart 7, A Grant 6 (sub: O Tucker, 79), S Smith 6 — D Rawlins 6. Substitutes not used: J Morrissey, J Tucker. Booked: Bean, Simons.

Referee: J Springer (Barbados).