Robin Hood 1 Devonshire Colts 0

Robin Hood returned to winning ways with a 1-0 victory over struggling Devonshire Colts in the Premier Division at Goose Gosling Field on Saturday night.

Lejuan Simmons, the Hood winger, broke Colts’ resolve in the 63rd minute after racing onto a through ball and slotting past goalkeeper Keitaro Darrell for his first goal of the season.

It was a much-needed win for Hood who had drawn their previous two league matches, both at home to North Village and Devonshire Cougars, while Colts are still searching for their first win of the season.

Hood dominated possession throughout, missing several scoring chances either side of half-time, with Darrell, the Colts goalkeeper, reeling off a number of saves.

Kyle Lightbourne, the Hood coach, had missed the games against Village and Cougars because he was in Curaçao at the Caribbean Championships with the Bermuda Under-20 team.

He felt Hood should have won by a far greater margin against Colts and believes they were guilty of making some poor choices in the final third.

“We had a lot of possession and kept the ball well, but their goalkeeper kept them in the game and made a couple of crucial saves at vital times,” Lightbourne said.

“I said to our guys at half-time that possession doesn’t really win games. You have to put the ball in the net and then possession can win you the game.”

Hood could have pulled further ahead with Simmons and midfielder Nathan Peskett both forcing saves from the impressive Darrell.

“We’ve been trying to change how we play with more of a possession game because we’re growing as a team,” Lightbourne added.

“We need to know when to play the ball in behind and when to play it to feet.

“Everything tonight was to feet and that’s easy to defend against sometimes. We have to start stretching teams.”

Lightbourne admits that he has been slightly concerned by his team’s lack of goals this season, having scored just eight in five league matches.

“It’s been a concern, we’ve scored two in the last three games, which has been good enough to get five points, but I think the goals will come,” he said.

“It was nice to see Lejuan score again as it was his first for the season.

“It’s been a longtime coming and hopefully he can go on a run now.”

TEAMS

Robin Hood (4-3-3): J Simmons — J Pereira, K Elkinson, C Fosker, D Cox — C Caisey, N Peskett, C Ryan — L Simmons, A Russell, E Outerbridge (sub: Z Burgess, 55min). Substitutes not used: S Andrade, S Burchall, D Taylor, M Johnson.

Devonshire Colts (4-3-3): K Daniels — J Maybury, K Wilkinson, M Issac, A Hart — J Burgess (sub J Woodley, 68), J Bean-Lindo (sub: D Wainwright, 84), T Eve, E Smith (sub: B Rose, 88)— S Paynter, K Jones. Substitutes not used: D Ball, L Matthews, D Lambe.

Referee: G Swainson.