Dandy Town 1 Somerset Trojans 2

Somerset Trojans eased their relegation worries by getting the better of Dandy Town in an ill-tempered affair at Goose Gosling Field on Sunday.

Town dominated possession for large portions of the first half, but Trojans limited the time they had on the ball and opened the scoring in th 12th minute when a goal-kick by Jade Morrissey was flicked on by Justin Corday and Jahiem Iris cut inside his defender to fire into the far corner past goalkeeper Treadwell Gibbons.

Trojans doubled the lead 15 minutes later with an incisive counter-attack. Simeon Burrows spread a pinpoint ball out to the left flank for Maquel Nisbett-Tankard, whose cross was poor but Corday rose above Gibbons, who had rushed out of his net, and glanced the ball into the empty net.

Just two minutes later, Trojans allowed Town back into the game after a terrible defensive mistake.

Jaz Ratteray-Smith took too long to clear his lines, gifting Cecoy Robinson the chance to take the ball of the defender’s toes and clip a finish over Morrissey into the empty net.

With no side able to add to their tally and neither team able to control the game or secure prolonged periods of possession, the game got tetchy with plenty of physical exchanges.

Town created the better openings, forcing Morrissey into a beautiful reflex save after Nizigh Spence struck a powerful effort toward goal from just inside the penalty area and Trojans’ defenders also made a few goal-line clearances from strikes by Tomiko Goater and Robinson.

Just before the final whistle, Jeze Butterfield was sent off for arguing with referee Anthony Francis after he had correctly given Town a throw-in deep inside their defensive final third.

Somerset assistant coach Jensen Rogers complimented his side’s start.

“We had a fast start,” he said. “We got the two-goal lead, and we held on to it.

“A few of our players, namely Jade [Morrissey] and Maquel [Nisbett-Tankard], made important contributions as we had to ride their pressure.”

“These three points were important. We always wanted to maintain a gap between ourselves and Boulevard; so if we beat them next week, we survive.”

SCORERS

Dandy Town: Robinson 29

Somerset Trojans: Iris 12, Corday 27

TEAMS

Dandy Town (4-2-3-1): T Gibbons 5 – M Parsons 5, E Moore 5, J Wilson-Butterfield 5, J Bean-Lindo 5 – N Spence 6, J Chapman 5 – T Goater 6, D Scraders 5 (sub: A Furbert, 71min), D Cook 5 – C Robinson 6. Substitutes not used: T Rogers, S Darrell, H Butterfield

Somerset Trojans (4-2-3-1): J Morrissey 7 – D Ming 6, T Ming 5, Jaz Ratteray-Smith 5, M Nisbett-Tankard 7 – Jaden Ratteray-Smith 5, J Butterfield 4 – Z Saltus-Seymour 5 (sub: D Swan-Desilva, 55 6), S Burrows 5, J Iris 6 – J Corday 6. Substitutes not used: Y Williams, A Morrissey, R Burrows, C Durham, M Aden. Booked: T Ming. Sent off: Butterfield

Referee: A Francis