North Village 2 Dandy Town 0

Dandy Town suffered their first defeat of the season at the hands of cross town rivals, North Village at Bernard’s Park yesterday.

A superb strike from Jakeem Jennings, nine minutes into the second half, and a neat finish from Rai Simons fifteen minutes later, gave the Rams a solid lead, which they did well to defend, against a team that has not been shutout all season.

The work rate was the biggest factor according to interim coach Devrae Tankard, who was standing in for head coach Kenny Thompson.

“We came into the match expecting it to be a dogfight and we discussed how important it was that we didn’t get outworked,” said Tankard.

“Once we scored the first goal, the thought process was to stay solid defensively and secure the result. Of course it was a plus to get the second, which put us in an even better position to execute on that game plan,” he stated.

North Village were gifted an early chance as Town started the match rather lethargically and were almost punished when Demetre Daniels robbed the centre back of the ball just inside the box.

The league leaders were let off the hook when Daniels shot directly at keeper Jaden Manders, who made what ended up being an easy save.

Once Town settled, they began to knock the ball around and penetrate with combination passes down the middle, which opened up some good looks at goal.

Cecoy Robinson’s volley from the edge of the box was heading for the top corner, until goalkeeper Detre Bell went full length with a strong hand to make the save.

Bell was called into action again midway through the half to save a Nizigh Spence effort from a similar range.

Village would then have a really good opportunity when Jennings was played through just inside the left side of the box but would be disappointed with his miscued shot, that went straight to the feet of Manders just before the half.

The young winger wasted no time making amends, as he opened the scoring moments after the interval, cutting in from the left flank to unleash a fierce shot that crashed off the underside of the cross bar and over the line to open the scoring.

Town had a chance to answer back immediately when Spence did well to bring down a long ball inside the box for the trailing Robinson, who blazed over the bar from 10 yards.

The miss would sting even harder, as Village would double their lead shortly afterwards, when Simons got on the end of a Daniels through ball and finished calmly into the bottom far corner.

The visitors continued to look for their breakthrough and almost found it when Angelo Simmons’s clever lob bounced off the cross bar as Bell could only watch.

He was then equally fortunate to have Robinson’s follow-up header off the rebound, fall safely into his hands.

Both teams would carve out a few more half chances in the dying stages of the match, but in the end, Village were able to manage their lead to pick up three valuable points that moved them away from the danger zone.

The result had no impact on Dandy Town’s position, as they are still firmly in the driver’s seat at the top of the table.

SCORERS

NVCC: J Jennings 54, Simons 68

TEAMS

NVCC (4-3-3): D Bell 7 ‒ K Knights 5, Q Lema 5, T Fray 6, Z Jennings-Barnett 5 ‒ I Simmons 5, V Perenchief 5 D Daniels 7 (sub T Williams 87) ‒ J Jennings 6 (sub O Botelho 75), R Simons 6 (sub P Smith 75), J Richardson 6 (J Smith-Deshields 83). Substitutes not used: J Bell, S Robinson, O Deshields Booked: Knights, R Simons, Jennings-Barnett

Dandy Town (3-4-2-1) J Manders ‒ E Moore 5, S Darrell 6, J Bean Lindo 5 ‒ T Manders 5 (sub J Chapman 55 6), T Webb Jr 5, K Davis 5 (sub M Mello-Cann 66 5), N Spence 6 ‒ T Goater 5 (sub E Swan 87), A Simmons 5 ‒ C Robinson 5. Substitutes not used: M Issac, N Smith, J Johnson, J Roser

Referee: D Parchment