Dandy Town are on a mission to honour late team member Jahtino Richardson-Martin in glory.

The versatile player, who played both in defence and midfield, became the island’s fifteenth road fatality this year after his motorcycle was in a collision with a car near the Rubis Terceira’s gas station on North Shore Road, Smith’s on November 3.

It was a devastating blow for his team-mates who are determined to honour their late colleague’s legacy by winning silverware this season.

“Every game we are playing for Tino Richardson-Martin, so we’re coming every game looking to win,” Angelo Simmons, the Dandy Town captain, told The Royal Gazette.

“His death has given us an added incentive to win the league. As our brother it hurt us so we know that we have to win something for him.

“We know he is looking down on us and wants us to win something for him. So we are going to do everything for him and his family in our power to win every trophy we can.

“This ball club is capable of doing miracles this season for Tino. We can feel it but we are just staying grounded and taking it one game at a time. But at the end we are going to make him and his family proud.”

There are also plans to officially retire the number 16 jersey which Richardson-Martin donned.

Coincidentally, he is the third Town player after Jerome Belboda and Randy Swan to have worn the number 16 jersey and died in road crashes.

Richardson-Martin’s death has brought his team-mates closer together as a group, something Aaron Denkins, the Town coach, says the late player always stood for and would have wanted.

“Tino has given the team extra motivation and has bonded them a lot more,” Denkins said. “That’s something that he would have wanted and that’s something that he always voiced when he was here about guys pulling together playing for each other.

“We’re just taking that motivation on as we go, and hopefully we are able to carry it the whole season.”

Town are off to one of their best starts to a season in recent memory.

Denkins’s team are unbeaten in their first seven games and stretched their lead at the top of the Premier Division to ten-points with a hard fought 2-1 win away to previously unbeaten PHC Zebras in their last outing at PHC Field.

“Ten points clear but it’s still a long season,” he added. “Anybody can go on a run and catch up. So we just have to continue to do what we have to do, especially over the Christmas break where we have games day after day after day. It’s just a matter of keeping our focus.”

Town will play three games in five days over the festive period with matches scheduled on December 27, 29 and January 1.

They are gunning for a ninth league title and first since the 2015-16 season.

Only PHC (eleven), Somerset Trojans (ten) and North Village (nine) have more league titles under their belt.

Simmons attributes his team’s solid form to the hard work put in on the training ground.

“We are putting the work in training and it’s showing in the games,” the experienced forward said. “We are very pleased but not getting ahead of ourselves.

“We just have to keep working hard. We have to keep pushing and get the victories that we need because we want to win the league this season.”