Dandy Town 1 Social Club 2

Young Men’s Social Club struck a blow to Dandy Town’s chances of winning the Premier Division title at Goose Gosling Field on Saturday night.

After scoring two first-half goals through captain Ryan Parris and Giniko Butterfield, the Angle Street team conceded early in the second half and had to defend tirelessly to secure the vital three points.

Coach Mike Smith was delighted to hear the final whistle, which was blown by Bermuda’s recently appointed Fifa referee Amaury Majors.

“I thought we deserved to win tonight,” Smith said. “We are starting to be more consistent in our performances and the results are showing.”

The Bluebirds were first out of the nest and should have scored in the opening minutes, but Jinairo Johnson failed to take the chance from close range when a low cross got tangled between his legs.

Town did not heed that warning and fell behind just minutes later. A curling, right-foot free-kick from captain Ryan Parris beat goalkeeper Toran Place for pace and, although he got a hand to it, the ball nestled in the right corner of his net .

Town responded well and nearly scored through Nathan Ntalu’s glancing header from Jahkari Furbert’s cross, but his effort just skimmed the crossbar.

Ntalu missed another golden opportunity to level when he beat Social Club goalkeeper Ryan Evans to a through ball only to sidefoot over the bar with the goal at his mercy.

That missed proved costly as Social Club doubled their lead in the 31st minute. Giniko Butterfield received a pass inside the box and kept his composure to beat his marker before planting a low drive beyond the reach of Place.

The away side should have extended their advantage but substitute Trey Tucker curled his shot just wide after being put through by Josh Hardtman.

Town started to come into the game late in the first half as light drizzles of rain started to fall, but they lacked composure and Social Club defended well in numbers to protect their two-goal lead at the break.

The home side pressed hard from the restart, forcing their opponents to defend with all 11 players behind the ball and they pulled a goal back in the 58th minute when Nizigh Spence squeezed the ball home from a goalmouth scramble after a corner.

Town thought they had equalised a few minutes later when captain Tomiko Goater’s curling free kick was allowed to roll across goal untouched before bouncing off the upright and back into play.

Under increasing pressure, Social Club defended tirelessly, led by captain Parris and veteran goalkeeper Evans, who sacrificed his body to make a courageous point-blank save from substitute Tavez Smith’s goalbound strike with nearly the last kick off the match to preserve the three points.

Scorers

Dandy Town: Spence 58

Young Men’s Social Club: Parris 10, G Butterfield 31

Teams

Dandy Town (4-2-3-1): T Place 6 — E Blankendal 6, E Moore 5, D Leverock 5, T Webb 6 — A Lewis 5 (sub: A Simmons 67 5), N Spence 6 — T Goater 6, N Ntalu 6 (sub: T Smith 86), J Furbert 6 — D Jones 5. Substitutes not used: O Wilson. Booked: Webb

Young Men’s Social Club (4-2-3-1): R Evans 7 — T Butterfield 6, J Richardson 6, K Butterfield 5 (sub: T Tucker 21 5), K Smith 5 — R Parris 8, M Hardtman 6 — G Butterfield 7 (sub: K Singh 78), J Johnson 6, M Wilson 5 (sub: M Rudo 69 5) — J Hardtman 6. Substitutes not used: A Matthews B Swan, K Gilbert. Booked: Richardson, M Hardtman. Tucker, Singh.

Referee: A Majors