North Village 1 Paget 0

Jonté Smith’s second-half goal against Paget at Bernard Park yesterday left North Village needing just one win from their remaining two matches to wrap up the league title.

Smith, who endured a frustrating afternoon, struck his twelfth league goal of the season in the 77th minute to secure Village’s eleventh triumph of the season. The victory lifted Calvin Dill Jr’s side to 34 points, four ahead of PHC, their only remaining title rivals.

A win over Devonshire Colts away on March 30 or against PHC at home on April 6 will secure the Pembroke-based team’s tenth title and their first since the 2019-2020 season.

“There was a bit of frustration because I felt that I should have scored earlier and made it easier for my team,” Smith told The Royal Gazette.

“But the most important thing is that we got the goal to win the match. We are now much closer to achieving our goal of winning the league.

“Even though I didn’t have the best day, what matters is having the right mentality and staying humble. We were down to the last 15 minutes and I told myself that the next chance that comes, I have to take, that’s all that was on my mind.”

Coach Dill wants his players to go all out in the last two matches with the aim of getting maximum points.

“It’s not over yet until we have the trophy in our hands,” Dill said.

“I’ll continue to encourage my team to take each game like it’s a final and get those remaining six points.

“We dominated against Paget, but we weren't clinical in front of goal. The main thing is that we fought our way through and got the win to keep us on top of the table.”

Paget coach Antwan Russell, who brought himself on in the 80th minute to try and earn his team a point, was hoping his team could disrupt another title contender after beating Dandy Town in their last match.

“We wanted to give it our best shot and just to try to shake up the league again,” Russell said.

“We try to win every match no matter who we’re playing against. If we want to be a top team, we have to beat the top teams and that’s what we’re striving to do.

“We had a good game but Village was the better team. They took their chances and we didn’t. That’s what happens in football — you don’t take your chances and the other team does like we saw today.

With three matches left for his team, Russell is hoping to finish higher than the fifth position they achieved last season.

“We are trying to finish fifth or higher,’’ the Paget coach said.

“Anything lower than fifth is regarded as a failure for us this season, so we’re going to push in our remaining three matches. We still don’t know when we’re playing our game in hand against Social Club, so we’re just playing it by ear at the moment.”

The first half was a dreary affair, with Village winger Z'Dao Dill carried off on a stretcher and taken to hospital with a knee injury in the 36th minute.

Five minutes into the second half, Paget’s Shakir Smith had a great opportunity to punish Village, but he blasted his effort wide.

A minute later, Seke Spence came close for the home side when his effort cannoned off the upright from a Jai Bean pass in the 51st minute.

Jalen Harvey thought he had broken the deadlock shortly after coming on for London Steede-Jackson when he rifled into the net after Jade Morrissey punched Smith’s effort back into play, but referee Amaury Majors adjudged that there was an infringement on the goalkeeper before the ball went in.

Tre Ming initiated the move that resulted in the winning goal, as he passed the ball to Smith, who quickly released it to Judah Chapman. Ming was impeded after advancing into the box in anticipation and the ball fell for Smith, with the forward making no mistake by burying his effort into Morrissey’s far post.

SCORERS

North Village: Smith 77

TEAMS

North Village (4-3-3): D Bell 6 – K Knights 6, R Sampson 6, T Fray 6, K Harrison 6 – T Ming 7, S Spence 6 (sub: J Smith-DeShields, 85min), L Steede-Jackson 6 (sub: J Harvey, 65 6) – Z Dill 5 (sub: J Chapman, 36 6), J Smith 7 (sub: T Manders, 85), J Bean 7. Substitutes not used: Z Jennings, I Simmons, T Harris. Booked: Manders.

Paget (4-4-2): J Morrissey 6 – K Simons 6 (sub: O Tucker, 80), R DeShields 6, J Carpenter 6, N Carpenter 6 – T Davis 6 (sub: A Russell, 80), D Cook 6, S Smith 6, D Hart 6 – D Rawlins 6 (sub: P Castle, 67 5), D Stovell 6. Substitutes not used: S Bean, A Grant.

Referee: A Majors.