Dandy Town 2

St David’s 0

Dandy Town returned to the top of the Premier Division pile with their win over St David’s at St John’s Field yesterday.

Strikes from Jahquille Stowe and Angelo Simmons either side of the break were enough to get the hosts the three points.

The Hornets have now opened a two-point gap ahead of Devonshire Cougars, who managed only a 3-3 draw Friday night against Wolves.

“We were made to fight hard for the win, but we made it hard on ourselves by trying to find the killer pass from the opening whistle instead of picking the right time to attempt what we did,” Jomar Wilkinson, the Dandy Town coach said.

“Although we got the win, it was important for us to not get caught up in the dramatics of the game, and keeping your head when you think things aren’t going your way is vital. We can now look forward to next week’s match against Cougars.”

It was a dogged affair early on as the Islanders sat deep and allowed their much fancied hosts the bulk of the possession, although their obsession with finding the telling through-pass would result in attack after attack breaking down.

Stowe opened the scoring in the 36th minute when a Damon Ming corner was half-cleared just outside the St David’s area, leaving the tall centre back the opportunity to blast his effort past Corey Richardson in goal for St David’s.

For all the effort of not allowing their rivals any clear-cut chances, the visiting side did not create much offensively, but should have been level just before the break, had it not been for a lapse in concentration.

Having blown for a foul deep inside Town’s half, referee Anthony Mouchette raised his hand for an indirect free kick.

Not seeing his hand up, however, Islanders striker Angelo Cannonier curled his effort past Andrew Jjombwe in Town’s goal, only for the shot to be disallowed for not having two players touching the ball.

Midfielder Zack Morris also had a chance to level matters seconds before the half-time whistle, but sent his shot wide of the back post.

Simmons nearly doubled his side’s lead in the 50th minute, but his thunderbolt from 20 yards cannoned off the crossbar, much to the relief of Richardson.

The pacy winger would go close again ten minutes later, but Richardson was equal to the task, parrying the close-range shot from harm’s way.

The all-important second goal would come in the 72nd, after influential midfielder Ming wove his way through the St David’s penalty area and found Simmons, whose sliding effort nestled comfortably at the near post.

Cannonier would be denied again in the dying stages of the match by Jjombwe, who pulled off a fine double save to deny Morris and Cannonier, while also preserving the clean sheet.

“You will never have things your way and up until Jahquille’s goal it was in the balance,” Wilkinson added.

Dandy Town (4-2-3-1): M Jjombwe — K Wade, D Williams, J Stowe, A Lowe — Z Burchall (sub: S Furbert, 63min), R Trott — D Ming, F Frankson (sub: D Butterfield, 59), S Darrell(sub: R Wells, 72) — A Simmons. Substitutes not used: S Tuzo, A Rocker, T Goater, M Clemens. Booked: Darrell, Burchall.

St David’s (4-5-1): C Richardson — T Caisey, O Minors, S Boddington, S Swan (sub: A Lugo, 66) — G O’Brien (sub: J Minors, 82), Z Morris, S Robinson, K Minors (sub: D Lambert, 58), A Crockwell — A Cannonier. Substitutes not used: G Warren. Booked: O Minors, Robinson.

Referee: A Mouchette.