N.Village 0 Dandy Town 1

Dandy Town took on the role of Scrooge at Bernard Park yesterday when they put paid to Village's Dudley Eve Trophy aspirations.

However, although the league champions closed the first half of the season with a 1-0 win, injuries again left them far short of full strength.

"It has been a difficult start to the defence of our title, losing players to injury, but this team has depth and I'm satisfied with today's result. Any victory over Village at home is a good win," said Town coach Andrew Bascome. "We focused on marking and neutralising their attack, and in the end we prevailed."

Both teams enjoyed their fair share of chances on the day, with Village holding a slight edge over their opponents during the initial stages.

Village's Tarik Jennings came close to opening the scoring for his team as early as the fifth minute after finding himself in possession of the ball on the edge of the 18-yard box, but he opted to hastily place his shot wide with only Town keeper Jason Smith to beat

Town's Devarr Boyles scored what ultimately turned out to be the winner in the 21st minute, after a David Burchall pass from out on the right side deep into Village territory pierced the defence, allowing the lanky midfielder to beat Zane Hendrickson with a firm low drive from just inside the area.

During the first of a series of injury setbacks on the day for Town, Burchall, the veteran playmaker, pulled a hamstring and was subsequently replaced by Paul Cann, while Sean Smith and second-half substitute Mark Trott also suffered similar fates, as the injury bug continued to plague the league champions.

Clay Smith squandered two chances to draw Village level moments before the half. The forward first watched in agony as his header from a Kentoine Jennings' cross from the left hit the upright, then moments later he failed to connect when unmarked on the six-yard line.

Town emerged after the break a more determined outfit and were enjoying the lion's share of possession when Village were awarded a penalty in the 58th minute but Michael Hansey's spot-kick was brilliantly saved by Smith, who chose correctly in diving to his right.

During a bizarre sequence of events, Town lost defender Sean Smith to injury in the 65th minute and had Mark Trott, come on for six minutes before he himself limped off through injury.

Village's second half substitutes, Sergio Goater and Domico Coddington, toiled in vain up front alongside Smith and Kevin Jennings with Kentoine Jennings occasionally pushing forward to assist in attack as the home side went in search of the all-important equaliser.

But in the end the Hornets prevailed with Darron Simons and Paul Cann both coming close to adding to Town's lead as they denied Village's the opportunity to defend their Dudley Eve title over the festive holiday.

North Village: Z.Hendrickson, J.Thomas, R.Spence, K.Jennings, M.Hansey, M.Dill, T.Jennings, T.Outerbridge, (D.Coddington, 45 mins),C.Smtih, (S.Goater, 70 mins), K.Jennings, V.Tankard

Dandy Town: J.Smith, L.Furbert, S.Smith, R.Swan, D.Crockwell, D.Binns, B.Oriordan, D.Boyles, D.Burchall, (P.Cann, 35 mins); D.Simons, (M.Trott, 65 mins); R.Tucker, (K.Hurdle, 76 mins).

Men of the Match: Kentoine Jennings, (North Village); Devarr Boyles, (Dandy Town).

Referee: Anthony Mouchette.