Dandy Town 1 North Village 2

North Village defeated cross-town rivals Dandy Town 2-1 to maintain their unblemished Premier Division record on Sunday.

Both sides entered with identical records of four victories from as many matches, but onlythe Rams emerged unscathed after 90 minutes of intense action at Goose Gosling Field, with Village manager Kenny Thompson pleased that his side had bounced back from defeat in the Dudley Eve Trophy semi-final in midweek.

“Our whole focus before the game was to show how strong we are after Wednesday night’s defeat,” Thompson said.

Although their winning record remained intact, Village’s run of league clean sheets was brought to an end at four when Jomei Bean thundered home a rebound from a Tomiko Goater drive that goalkeeper Dietre Bell could only parry into the midfielder’s path, and Thompson was delighted that his side showed their resilience.

“The players showed a lot of spirit after conceding for the first time in the league,” Thompson said. “That was something that was on our minds and something we wanted to continue, but to come back from that and go ahead after having to withstand a lot of pressure shows the strength and spirit of this team.”

Bean’s strike for Dandy Town cancelled out an early Village goal after they stamped early authority on the game, scoring after just three minutes of play from a well-executed free kick.

Stand-in captain Jalen Harvey did the damage as he stepped up to find the low, left corner with a curling effort from all of 25 yards which eluded the five-man wall and an unsighted Hubert Butterfield in goal for Town.

Yet, if the opening moments belonged to the away side, much of the rest of the first half was controlled by the home side, with Goater and captain Angelo Simmons at the fore of many an attacking foray, forcing Village to defend valiantly in absorption of concentrated pressure.

Indeed, Hornets gave Village as much as they could handle during a fast-paced first half, but with only the lone goal to show for their efforts, Goater having come closest to scoring a second when he rocked the crossbar after a mesmerising exhibition of dribbling inside the penalty area by Simmons saw the ball squeezed to Goater at the top of the area, his blast failing by inches to find paydirt.

Town’s failure to convert their chances came back to bite them when substitute Pierre Smith, who came on in the 42nd minute for Seth Somner after he was still feeling the effects of a recent illness, executed a perfect lob that dipped in under the bar in added time at the end of the first half.

Vibrant, if a bit scrappy, the second-half provided great intrigue as Town hungrily sought an equaliser, but time and again their well-constructed attacks came up short.

It appeared stand-in coach Mick Ward had found the remedy by inserting Jahzi Wilson Butterfield for a tiring Robinson 13 minutes from the end, with the youngster’s trickery against defender Tariq Bean earning a penalty, but Goater failed to convert.

In the build-up to the match, questions hovered as to how Town might find the means to penetrate their opponent’s top rated-defence, with recent history having exposed shortcomings in their finishing ability.

Asked if finishing had cost them the match, stand-in coach Ward was only partially in agreement.

“It did a bit,” said Ward, deputising for Jay Bean who was forced away from the bench through a one-match suspension.

“The chances we let in as well probably could have been avoided and if we stop them we come away one nil up. But we had chances, even at the end and with the penalty as well. It’s a game we probably should have won.

“It’s not just about quality defences. When you have a chance, you’ve got to score it. The chances we had any attacker has to finish and score. We had well designed attacks that were strategically and properly built and if we take those chances we come away with a victory.”

Village were left to await the result of the late encounter between Devonshire Cougars and St George’s, with anything less than maximum points in favour of the east enders putting Village alone at the head of the Premier Division.

SCORERS

North Village 2

Harvey 3, Smith 45+1

Dandy Town 1

Bean 14

TEAMS

Dandy Town (4-1-4-1): H Butterfield 5 – T Webb 6, M Parsons 5, K Sharrieff-Hayward 6, E Moore 6 -- A Furbert 6 – J Bean-Lindo 7 (sub: D Scraders, 46min 5 ), N Spence 6 (sub: S Darrell, 86), T Goater 5, A Simmons 6 – C Robinson 7 (sub: J Wilson Butterfield, 77). Substitutes not used: J Talbot-Thomas, J Richardson-Martin. Booked: A Simmons, K Sharrieff-Hayward.

North Village (4-1-4-1): D Bell 8 - T Fray 7, J Harvey 7, T Wilson 7, T Bean 5 (sub: K Harrison, 83) - V Perinchief 7 -- T Ming 6, S Somner 5 (sub: P Smith, 42 7), I Simmons 6, N Smith 6 (sub: S Lambert, 49 6) -- J Smith-Deshields 7. Substitutes not used: O DeShields, R Simons

Referee: M Wyer