Somerset Trojans 2 St David’s 1

Jaiden Ratteray-Smith and Richard Quinn scored in the second half to help Somerset Trojans edge St David’s 2-1 in the FA Cup first round yesterday.

Trojans controlled the early stages, knocking the ball around well and remaining patient to create the odd opening.

Winger Zaire Smith had the first clear chance, but struck his shot straight at goalkeeper Corey Richardson.

The visiting side gradually started taking control of the ball, but they failed to get through the stubborn Trojans defence.

Midway through the first half, Trojans goalkeeper Dequan Crockwell came out of his penalty area with the ball, but the East Enders failed to capitalise on the set-piece chance.

The home side continued to dominate the ball and started to make penetrative passes to open up the St David’s defence.

Striker D’Andre Wainwright missed a shot well wide in the 35th minute after being played through by Ratteray-Smith.

Zaire Smith struck a beautiful free kick off the crossbar just before halftime, the closest either side came to opening the scoring.

The visiting side made the first tactical switch, bringing off young winger Irvon van Patton for Kontai Burton in the 49th minute.

Since the home side failed to increase their tempo in the early stages of the second half, coach Dennis Brown brought on pacy attacker Leo Burgess to replace Jeze Butterfield six minutes later.

Just before the hour mark, Trojans went ahead. A beautifully flighted ball from Smith was neatly headed in by defender Quinn.

Burgess made a quick impact off the bench, having a shot blocked after Jaiden Ratteray-Smith played him through. By this point, Trojans were in total control, with St David’s having trouble getting out of their own half.

After a sustained spell of Trojans possession, St David’s finally made a decent counter-attack, but striker OJ Minors missed a shot wide.

However, the home side seriously went searching for the killer second goal. Burgess hit the crossbar with ten minutes remaining.

Smith was also the architect of the second goal. His cross was deflected straight into the path of Jaiden Ratteray-Smith, who slotted past Richardson at his near post.

St David’s grabbed a consolation goal when midfielder Kurtis Minors lashed home a free kick with the final kick.

Coach Dennis Brown was happy with the result, but not so much the performance.

“In the first half, we were poor, but we changed up and moved the ball better in the second half,” he said.

“It wasn’t the best team performance; we can definitely do better. However, the result will boost our confidence for the next game.”

Brown also noted that Burgess made a significant impact off the bench.

“The game changed a lot when Leo came on. He helped us increase the tempo of our passing, and that troubled the visitors’ defence.”

SCORERS

Somerset Trojans: Quinn 64, Jaiden Ratteray-Smith 82

St David’s: K Minors 90

TEAMS

Somerset Trojans (4-5-1): D Crockwell — K Sharieff-Hayward, T Ming, C Durham, R Quinn — J Butterfield (sub: L Burgess, 55min), Jaiden Ratteray-Smith, Jaz Ratteray-Smith, D Swan, Z Smith (sub: R Seaman, 82) — D Wainwright (sub: G Fubler, 85). Substitutes not used: M Joell, K Harvey. Booked: Jaz Ratteray-Smith.

St David’s (4-5-1): C Richardson — C Wellman, M Proctor, S Wilson, D Butterfield — J Pitcher, N Anderson, D Hendrickson, K Minors, I Van Potten (sub: K Burton, 49) — OJ Minors (sub: T DeSouza, 83). Substitutes not used: W Jones.

Referee: M Wyer.