Robin Hood 2 Dandy Town 1

It was a case of different coach, same old story as Dandy Town slumped to their eighth league defeat of the season.

There was to be no change in fortunes for Town in their first game under Kwame Steede, who replaced Jomar Wilkinson last week, after another Premier Division defeat at Goose Gosling Field on Saturday night.

Steede’s side found themselves trailing in the tenth-minute, conceding against the run of play when Shakir Smith steered in from close range after a pull back from his opposite winger Lejuan Simmons.

Poor defending then gifted Hood a second goal, with striker Antwan Russell reacting swiftly to pick up a loose ball and release Simmons who crashed home a shot into the far corner from just inside the area.

At the other end, Tomiko Goater missed a difficult chance for Town, with the midfielder unable to direct his shot on target from a driven Tucker cross from the left.

Tucker then reduced the deficit on the half-hour mark with a neat finish as Town finished the first period strongly, enjoying plenty of possession.

Hood started the second half the brighter of the two sides, with Liam Evans forcing a fine save from Ajai Daniels, the Town goalkeeper, with a dipping effort from long distance.

Simmons then had an effort cleared off the line before Town threw caution to the wind in their pursuit of an equaliser and nearly found it with the final kick of the game when substitute David Jones stabbed over from a Damon Ming corner.

Kyle Lightbourne, the Hood coach, described the match as his side’s biggest of the season and was delighted to have kept pressure on league leaders PHC Zebras.

“Today we had two chances and scored them both,” Lightbourne said. “I’m pleased with the result as it’s always difficult to get going again after you’ve had a bit of a break [for the Christmas period].”

Lightbourne believed Town’s new coaching partnership of Steede and assistant Andrew Bascome would give the visiting side an immediate boost and was wary of the threat they posed.

“It was a tricky game and I expected them to be organised,” he said.

“But the one thing that doesn’t change is, when you’re losing games it doesn’t matter who’s in charge when that first goal goes in — it’s a case of ‘here we go again’.

“We scored our goals at the right time and rode our luck at the end of the first half. I thought we managed the second half really well and saw out their danger.”

SCORERS

Robin Hood

Smith 10, Simmons 16

Dandy Town

Tucker 29

TEAMS

Robin Hood (4-3-3): J Simons — D Taylor, N Peskett, D Cox, E Outerbridge — Z Burgess (sub: C Caisey, 75min), L Evans, D Brangman — L Simmons, A Russell (sub: J Pereira, 85),

S Smith. Substitutes not used: M Johnson, C Fosker, S Burchall. M Thomas, Booked: Simmons.

Dandy Town (4-3-3): A Daniels — K Lathan, K Tucker, D Williams, L Millet — D Ming, A Lewis (sub: D Jones, 65), S Darrell — A Simmons (sub: E Blankendal, 80), J Richardson-Martin (sub: Z Burchall, 81), T Goater. Substitutes not used: D Bascome, J Amory, K Steede.

Referee: L Cann.