North Village 0 St George’s Colts 4

St George’s Colts stuck together amid early adversity to punish several defensive mistakes and hand North Village their first defeat of the Premier Division season at Bernard Park on Sunday.

After missing an early penalty, St George’s ran away with the game late on thanks to goals from Blaiz Hall, Jonté Smith and Malachi Trott much to the delight of coach Jarreau Hayward.

“We played as a team from beginning to end,” Hayward said. “The whole team was hungry and that is what I’m most proud of.”

St George’s started brightly and should have opened the scoring inside five minutes when a corner was poorly cleared and Malachi Trott’s delivery was deflected off the hand of Seth Somner just inside the 18-yard box. Kashe Hall stepped up but his penalty lacked power and was easily saved by Detre Bell.

Midway through the first half, Village created their first real opportunity. Tre Ming clipped a ball forward for Nacori Smith, who drove a volley towards goal and forced a reflex save by Jahquil Hill at his near post but the rest of the half was largely marred by injuries, with London Steede forced off after a lengthy stoppage with a hamstring injury.

The East End side took control early in the second half, beginning to speed up the tempo of the game and making intelligent movements in the attacking third. They would open the scoring just after the hour markwith Tyrell Burgess clipping a pass forward for Blaiz Hall, who drove into space and opened up his body to curl past Bell into the far corner.

Although largely shackled by a strong and resolute Colts defence, Village tried to get back into the game with Nacori Smith firing straight at Hill before Colts’ Trott, who put in a mature performance, linked up beautifully with Hall before striking just wide from inside the penalty box.

With Village chasing the game, it was inside the final ten minutes that Colts punished a few dreadful mistakes from the Village defence to extend their advantage. Good pressure from Trott forced Tre Ming into a poor pass and Kashe Hall clipped another ball into the path of Blaiz, which was misjudged by the hosts’ defence and allowed a pass through for Jonté Smith to fire past Bell.

Moments later, Village’s Kyler Knights gave the ball away in a dangerous area allowing Ernest Signor to steal it before he was fouled by Jaizel Smith-Deshields. Burgess swung the resulting free-kick straight to the unmarked Blaiz Hall, who sidefooted past Bell for his second of the day.

Two minutes before the end, Trott got the goal his excellent display deserved, pouncing on a poor pass by Ming before making room to fire a low effort past Bell to condemn Village to their first league defeat of the season.

Scorers

St George’s Colts

B Hall 60, 87; J Smith 83; Trott 88

TEAMS

North Village Rams (4-5-1): D Bell 5 – T Williams 5 (sub: K Knights, 69min 5), T Fray 4, T Ming 4, K Harrison 5 – N Smith 5, L Steede 4 (sub: I Simmons, 18 5), J Smith-Deshields 4, S Somner 5 (sub: A Dos Santos, 46 4), T Wilson 4 – J Bell. Substitutes not used: R Simons, O Deshields, T Bean; Booked: Williams, Somner, Simmons.

St George’s Colts (4-2-3-1): J Hill 6 – W Broadley 5, T Burgess 6, D Signor 6, N Paynter 7 (sub: G Wade, 90) – K Hall 6, E Signor 6 – B Hall 8 (sub: K Wilson, 90), M Trott 6, D Bascome 6 (sub: A Douglas Jr, 58 5) – J Smith 6 (sub: M Paynter, 90). Substitutes not used: D Lodge, P Anderson, J Brangman. Booked: Broadley.

Referee: O Nation (Jamaica)