Boulevard 0 North Village 3

North Village maintained their flawless Premier Division record with a comfortable victory over Boulevard at Goose Gosling Field on Thursday night.

First-half goals from Jalen Harvey and Nacori Smith put Village in firm control with Justin Bell adding a third midway through the second half to secure all three points and cement his side’s position at the top of the table.

While Village head coach Kenny Thompson was far from convinced with his side’s overall performance, he was more than satisfied to watch his side extend their perfect start to the new campaign and move six points clear at the top of the Premier Division.

“We’re happy to get another three points and improve our goal difference with three goals and a clean sheet,” he said. “We played some good football in spurts but we still need to put a few things together and find our consistency.

“Obviously we always want to win by playing well but the first objective is always to get the victory. We are still finding our rhythm and so we just need to keep working on our performance.

“I felt after we went ahead that they put us under some pressure but we were always ready to withstand that. You are never going to dominate an entire game but I felt we struggled at times, particularly in the first half to really dictate the game.

“However, we still have a 100 per cent record and that is the main thing right now.”

After a sluggish start to the match by both teams, North Village almost broke the deadlock in fortuitous fashion in the tenth minute when Bell’s cross from the left had to be tipped over the bar by Boulevard goalkeeper Azir Harvey.

That appeared to spark Boulevard into life and they created their first opportunity immediately after but Antoine Famous could only fire his effort straight at Detre Bell after a neat interchange with Kamali Davis.

Famous was made to regret that miss when Village broke the deadlock in the 16th minute as an outswinging corner from the right was met by Harvey, who powered his header past the goalkeeper.

After a lull in the action, Bell whistled a 25-yard effort narrowly over the bar in the 38th minute before Village doubled their advantage five minutes before the interval. Jaizel Smith-Deshields fed Smith, who was afforded too much time inside the area to pick his spot and curl an effort into the bottom-left corner.

Forced to go in search of a route back into the match, Boulevard started the second-half with renewed vigour and twice went close through Davis, who first saw a 25-yard free-kick crash back off the crossbar in the 56th minute before drilling a low effort narrowly wide of the far-left post after outmuscling Terryn Fray and driving into the area.

Against the run of play, Village put the game beyond doubt when adding a third in the 68th minute. A marauding Harvey did brilliantly down the left-hand side to beat two defenders before picking out Bell who rifled a low first-time shot into the bottom-left corner.

Refusing to rest on their laurels and with Boulevard heads dropping, Village continued to pour forward and create further chances in the final ten minutes.

One such opportunity saw Smith go close to grabbing his second, weaving his way through the defence only to be denied by goalkeeper Harvey, who got down well to tip the forward’s effort around the post.

There was just enough time for Boulevard to spurn one final chance but Bell was alert to rush off his line and deny the substitute on two occasions, keeping his clean sheet intact.

SCORERS

North Village: Harvey 16, Smith 40, J Bell 68

TEAMS

Boulevard (4-4-1-1): A Harvey 6 – A Famous 6, A Williams-Smith 6, J Williams 6, A Jonston 7 – Q Maynard 6 (sub: N Augustus 72) , T Walker 6, D Hendrickson 7, J Samuels 6 (sub O Wilson 32min 6) – K Davis 7 (sub: G Liburd 83) – I Coke (sub: C Darrell 50 6) 6. Substitutes not used: Z Stovell, T Jeffers, K McQueen.

North Village (4-3-3): D Bell 7 – K Harrison 6 (sub: O Deshields 72), K Knights 7, T Frey 6, J Harvey 8 (sub: T Bean 82) – S Somner 7 (sub: A Santos 71), I Simmons 7 (sub: T Wilson 82), L Steede-Jackson 7 – N Smith 7, J Smith-DeShields 7, J Bell 7. Substitutes not used: S Lambert. Booked: Simmons.

Referee: D Parchment