Somerset Trojans 0 North Village Rams 1

Jaizel Smith-DeShields kept his cool in a crowded goalmouth to clinch three precious points for North Village at Somerset Cricket Club on Saturday afternoon.

The midfielder looked up and placed his shot into the bottom left-hand corner of Dequan Crockwell’s net for the only goal of the game in the 75th minute.

The result moved North Village into joint leadership of the Premier Division, albeit only until the weekend fixtures are concluded today. Somerset had the first scoring threat when Vernon Perinchief, Jaden Ratteray-Smith and captain Makai Joell combined well through midfield before the latter got off a snap shot that goalkeeper Tahj Bell, who dived to his right to collect.

Village’s playmaker was Troy Tucker, who was instrumental in nearly all of their attacks. After going on a crafty solo run, he slipped the ball to striker Keishen Bean, whose curling shot hit an upright and was cleared to safety.

Trojans’ Jaz Ratteray-Smith had two solo efforts of his own. For the first, he dazzled his way down the left flank and along the byline before shooting into the side-netting. This was followed closely with a similar run before slipping the ball wide to D’Andre Wainwright, but his shot endured a similar ending.

Village thought they had scored just before the half when Bean sent Rayquan Rochester on a run down the right flank. His first-time cross found Demitre Daniels, who side-footed into the net, but Rochester was adjudged to be offside.

Immediately after the break, Jaz Ratteray-Smith received a ball directly from a throw-in and hit a firm shot on the turn but Bell was positioned well to collect at the near post.

Tucker gave Bean a low through-ball, which Trevin Ming did well to block as Bean was about to shoot. The same players combined on a quickly taken free kick when Bean flicked to Tucker, who brought a good save from Crockwell, the Somerset goalkeeper smothering the ball diving to his right.

Somerset substitute Keith Jennings, a former Village player, almost set up the opening goal when he played Jaden Ratteray-Smith through, but his drive was pushed away by Bell diving to his left.

The only goal of the game would come when Bean did well to keep possession of the ball from a goalmouth scramble before playing the ball back to Smith-DeShields. The youngster kept his composure to find the opening on the left of the goal.

Village substitute Jason Davis almost gifted the Trojans an equaliser four minutes from time when he sliced Damon Swan’s low-driven corner towards his own goal, only for the reflexes of Bell to keep the ball from entering the net.

Village coach Kenny Thompson was pleased with the result.

“We had to embrace the process,” he said. “We had possession of the ball in the first half, but it was slow. We aimed to pick it up in the second half and we did.

“The Trojans defended well and were compact, but we grew in confidence and created more openings to score. It was a fair result.”

SCORER

North Village Rams: J Smith-DeShields 75

TEAMS

Somerset Trojans (4-2-3-1): D Crockwell — K Sharrieff-Hayward, T Ming, J Stowe, R Quinn — M Joell, C Durham (sub: D Swan, 76min) — Jaden Ratteray-Smith, V Perinchief (sub: J Butterfield, 46), Jaz Ratteray-Smith (sub: K Jennings, 56) — D Wainwright. Substitutes not used: Takyh Sharrieff-Hayward, M Henschke.

North Village Rams,/b> (4-4-2): T Bell — Q Lema, Z Robinson, K Knights, D Tankard — R Rochester (sub: R Murphy, 62), J Briers, T Tucker, D Daniels — J Smith-DeShields (sub: J Davis, 83), K Bean. Substitutes not used: A Darrell, D Dillas, C Caisey, G Butterfield, R Simons.

Referee: M Wyer.