Boulevard 1 St George’s 3

Jomar Wilkinson was left frustrated after Kamali Davis’s self-destruction proved the catalyst for St George’s to complete an impressive turnaround and kick off the new Premier Division season in style with victory over Boulevard at Goose Gosling Field last night.

Boulevard found themselves ahead through Clay Darrell’s early strike before the game was flipped on its head with five minutes of the first half remaining when the mercurial Davis essentially refused to play on after a dispute with one of his own team-mates.

Seizing on the chaos within the opposition ranks, St George’s rallied and levelled before the break through Blaiz Hall, with second-half goals from Keishon Wilson and Jai Burgess completing the turnaround.

“I’m very disappointed with the nature of the self-destruct,” said a downcast Wilkinson, who replaced Davis at the interval. “Because of a late change we had to play him [Davis] in midfield where he can do a good job, but he doesn’t want to play there.

“He wants to play farther forward and I think that was part of his frustration. However, he has to be more of a team player and sometimes we all have to make adjustments.

“He definitely has to mature in his game and understand that there are going to be frustrations and that the game is full of mistakes. He can be so hard on his team-mates and his communication needs to be better.

“It’s not what you say but how you say it that matters because it breaks down the chemistry of the team. I was forced to make that substitution at half time for the betterment of the team.

“It’s frustrating because he is such an important player but I have to manage what is best for the team and today he set a bad example that was not good for the team.”

Boulevard got off to a flying start, breaking the deadlock in the tenth minute when Sergio Woolridge picked out Darrell inside the area, with the forward taking a touch before rifling the ball past Zeko Burgess.

Wilkinson’s side went close to adding a second just two minutes later as Ian Coke narrowly fired wide on the stretch at the back post, while Teh-Kei Taylor also spurned a good opportunity slicing his right-footed effort wide from the edge of the area.

St George’s finally started to find some rhythm with Tyrell Burgess drilling a 30-yard free kick narrowly over just after the half-hour mark, with Nzari Paynter calling Azir Harvey into action to hold on to his first-time curling effort from the edge of the area six minutes later.

Having been the orchestrator for Boulevard’s attacking play throughout the opening 40 minutes, impressing in a deeper midfield role, Davis then undid all of his good work in a moment of utter madness.

Uninterested in the game going on around him and causing distraction among his team, St George’s seized the initiative, capitalising on Davis’s petulance.

With chaos among the Boulevard squad, the ball was worked out to Hall on the left, who cut in and drilled the ball past Harvey to level.

The arguments continued among the Boulevard players as they walked off at the interval, with Davis ultimately not returning for the second half.

Just ten minutes after the break St George’s got themselves ahead. A flowing move through the midfield saw the ball worked into the area and eventually falling at the feet of Wilson, who bundled a scuffed effort into the bottom-left corner.

The lively Hall then went agonisingly close to adding a third on the hour mark, weaving his way into the area before curling a right-foot shot just past the upright.

However, St George’s extended their advantage just eight minutes later as a drilled ball in from the right fell to the feet of Jai Burgess, who made no mistake, thundering a first-time effort past Harvey to all but put the result beyond any doubt.

In the closing stages, substitute Kontai Burton came close to adding a fourth, curling an effort just wide as St George’s kicked off the new season in ideal fashion.

“All we needed from today was the three points,” said St George’s head coach Jarreau Hayward. “We started off to slowly but once we adjusted, we did what we had to to get the points.

“The spirit of this squad is amazing and I have to praise the entire squad for that.”

SCORERS

Boulevard: Darrell 10

St George’s: Hall 43, Wilson 55, J Burgess 68

TEAMS

Boulevard (4-2-3-1): A Harvey 6 – A Johnston 6, A Williams-Smith 6, Q Maynard 5, Tre’jon Jefferis 5 – N Smith 6, K Davis 3 (sub: T Walker, 46min 6) – T Taylor 6, S Woolridge 6, I Coke 5 – C Darrell 6 (sub: D Hendrickson, 63 6). Substitutes not used: K McQueen, N Augustus. Booked: Johnston, Smith, Taylor, Woolridge.

St George’s (4-2-3-1): Z Burgess 6 – T Burgess 7 (sub: S Blair-Paynter 88), J Darrell 6, G Wade 6 (sub: D Lodge, 56 6), P Anderson 6 – N Paynter 7, L Dill 7 (sub: K Burton, 84) – J Burgess 7, B Hall 7 (sub: J Brangman, 88), M Trott 6, K Wilson 7. Substitutes not used: K Hall, E Signor. Booked: Anderson, Paynter.

Referee: D Jackson.