North Village 1 Somerset Trojans 2

Somerset Trojans continue their ascendancy up the league table at the back end of the season with a slim victory against North Village at Bernard’s Park yesterday.

Jahkari Furbert and Nathan Rego scored a goal apiece to give the visitors a solid lead going into the half and although Village offered a spirited effort in the second period, they could only manage to pull one back from the boot of Owen Botehlo.

The win ‒ their third in the last five matches ‒ lifted Trojans into the top half of the table for the first time since the turn of the year, which is progression that coach Jomar Wilkinson is happy to see.

“We have a young team and right now we are in the process of developing as a unit, and I thought today we did well to manage different stages of the game,” said Wilkinson.

“At times, we had to absorb a good bit of pressure, particularly at the start of the first half, but I thought we did a good job of managing those periods and were able to eventually close out the match.”

With both teams well out of the title fight but safely away from the drop zone, the match started fairly slowly and some lethargic defending allowed for early opportunities at both ends of the pitch.

Justin Corday had the first real chance for Somerset in the tenth minute, receiving a ball behind the defence on the left side of the box, but he could only pull his shot wide of the near post with only the goalkeeper to beat.

Village would then enjoy a decent spell, creating a few openings of their own, but could only muster up a few shots from distance that never really threatened goalkeeper Jade Morrissey. They would come the closest when Seth Somner struck a clean volley directly from a corner, but the ball was deflected wide by a defender.

Somerset then got the opener on the half-hour mark, when Teryn Fray had his pocket picked by Furbert inside his own box and consequently pulled him down for a penalty. Furbert dusted himself off before stepping up to send the goalkeeper the wrong way, guiding his spot kick in the bottom corner.

Ten minutes later, Rego took advantage of a moment of indecision by Somner, finishing into the top corner after nipping in front of the young defender, who failed to deal with the ball running towards his goal.

North Village made a couple of half-time substitutions in an effort to get back in the match and both changes made immediate contributions.

Within minutes of the restart, Rai Simons's low cross found Ian Simmons on the doorstep, but the midfielder made a mess of the finish, which went over the bar from four yards.

Kyler Knights would then set up the goal to get them back into the match after combining nicely down the right side and squaring the ball to Botelho, who scored with the rebound after his first attempt was blocked.

As the half wore on, Village’s momentum began to subside and Somerset had a couple of openings on the counter attack through the likes of substitutes Tehvaun Tyrel and Deante Wainwright but neither could add to the tally.

SCORERS

Somerset Trojans: J Furbert 30, N Rego 39

North Village: Botelho 58

TEAMS

NVCC (4-3-3): O Deshields 5 ‒ J Harvey 5, S Somner 4, T Fray 5, K Carrington 4 (sub: K Knights 46min 6) ‒ V Perinchief 5, I Simmons 5, O Botelho 5 (sub: L Outerbridge 84) ‒ J Bell 6, P Smith 4 (sub: R Simons 46 6), J Smith-Deshields. Substitutes not used: D Daniels, D Bell. Booked: Somner, Fray, Perenchief, Simmons, Smith-Deshields

Somerset Trojans (3-4-2-1) J Morrissey 5 ‒ M Nisbett-Tankard 5, C Durham 5, Jaz Ratteray-Smith 5 ‒ D Swan 5 (sub: D Ming 55 5), J Butterfield 5 (sub: D Wainwright 55 5), Jaden Ratteray-Smith 5, K Sharrief-Hayward 5 ‒ J Corday 5 (sub: T Tyrell 37 5), J Furbert 6 (sub: Q Watson 88) ‒ N Rego 6. Substitutes not used: R Symonds, N Durham. Booked: Hayward, Jaden Ratteray-Smith, Wainwright

Referee: T Simons