North Village 1

Dandy Town 3

Dandy Town maintained their slim one-point lead at the top of the Premier Division standings as two goals midway through the second half settled the points at Bernard Park.

England-based Tre Manders, who played and scored for Town in the PDL final on New Year’s Day, earned a second half penalty and then netted Town’s third as the result keeps the Hornets at the head of the pack in the title race.

Coach Jomar Wilkinson hopes the win sends out a clear message. “We always take the league serious and want to be serious contenders and hopefully today we sent a message that we are serious contenders,” he said. “My hat is off to Village, they came with a good game plan today and we made some adjustments at half-time and it seemed to work out for us.” Town were able to rest during the Christmas holiday after losing to Devonshire Cougars in Friendship Trophy, but yesterday they came out rested and fully charged as the league campaign resumed.

“Any tournament we enter we want to try to win, but having the rest could be a positive thing in the long run, and hopefully it is,” said the coach. I thought we were a little rusty at the start of the game and that was from not playing over the Christmas break, so we always look to play during Christmas to keep sharp.”

Town opened the scoring in the 12th minute when they penetrated the Village defence down the right side and Damon Ming beat fullback Justin Sousa with his pace before whipping in a low cross that Seion Darrell tapped in from six yards.

Town had another good chance midway through the half when a kick by goalkeeper Troy Hall Jr went straight to Ming who hurried his long range effort over the bar as he tried to catch Hall off his line.

Village began to threaten more as Thomas Watson shot over the bar after a Tyrell Burgess blast from a free kick came off the wall. Then the threatening Keishen Bean drove a low shot just wide as Village kept in the game. Their equaliser came in the 38th minute when a cross from the right by Pierre Smith was slotted in by Jahquan Smith-DeShields. The home side came closed to taking the lead two minutes later when Bean curled a free kick just wide of the far post after Town captain Brendon Minors committed a foul on the edge of the box which earned him a booking.

Village looked unlucky to have a penalty awarded against them when Manders tried to flick the ball into across goal and it struck the hand of Devrae Tankard behind him.

Referee Ronue Cann pointed to the spot and goalkeeper Treadwell Gibbons strode the length of the pitch to take the kick and placed his effort to Hall’s left. Moments later Gibbons made a crucial diving save to push a long range shot against the post as the ball then struck the other upright before being cleared for a corner as Village went close to equalising.

However, Manders’ 66th minute effort sealed the points for the visitors as Angelo Simmons pulled the ball back from the right side and Manders side-footed home with his left foot from close range.

His last appearance with Town before returning to England this week was cut short when he was carried off with cramp in the 84th minute. Smith-DeShields nearly scored a late consolation goal for the home side when he drove a left-footed effort just wide as Town hung on for their sixth win in 10 games.

“Tre is one of the players we were bringing through two seasons ago and since then he has gone abroad to school and is in an academy out there,” said Wilkinson.

“We have quite a few youngsters coming through and Tre is very special. We like to call him ‘Mr Technique’ because anything around the goal he puts on target or forces the goalkeeper to make a save.

“He worked extremely hard today and I’m proud of him. Today wasn’t the prettiest game but sometimes it is just about getting the result and that’s what we did.”