St George’s 1 North Village 3

North Village closed out the Premier Division season on a positive note with victory over St George's at Wellington Oval yesterday.

Village now have a date with PHC in the FA Cup final on April 2 to look forward to and coach Kenny Thompson is confident his side will approach the game in good heart after this good warm-up win.

“We needed a good performance, and that is what we got,” Thompson said.

“We also took the opportunity to rest players ahead of the final. Congratulations to PHC, but we didn’t do enough in the second half of the season. Now we have one eye on the FA Cup Final.”

The first half of this final game between two top-four sides was evenly balanced, with both sides jostling for possession and territory.

Village found the opening goal ten minutes before half time from a free kick. Tre Ming found Jalen Harvey and the left-back squared for Pierre Smith to tap in from close range past goalkeeper Jahquil Hill.

St George’s responded positively just before the break, but Jonté Smith was unable to latch on to a low cross by Jai Burgess.

St George's started on the front foot in the second half but Village held their shape to thwart their early attempts to find an equaliser.

Instead, Village doubled their advantage when Harvey, who was picked out by Seth Somner, cut back for Tahmi Williams to drive through unopposed from midfield and sidefoot past Hill.

The East End side nearly halved the deficit just after the hour from a patient build-up, which culminated with Kashe Hall threading a ball through for Lashon Dill, who cut inside but could only smash an effort off the crossbar.

Village put the result beyond any lingering doubt with the help of a massive deflection. Ming pounced upon a loose ball by Malachi Trott and fired towards goal, but a wicked deflection by David Signor sent the ball into the far corner past a hapless Hill.

St George’s finally found a goal their attacking intent deserved. Hall's delivery was glanced on by substitute Keishon Wilson and lashed in at the near post by Tyrell Burgess. This goal inspired the East End outfit to increase the pressure on a tiring Village defence, but their experience shone through.

St George’s head coach Jarreau Hayward believes lessons can be learned from this result, and the season as a whole.

“We didn’t want to finish this poorly,” Hayward said. “We will take lessons from today, and build on everything for next season.”

SCORERS

St George’s: T Burgess 77

North Village: P Smith 36, Williams 53, Ming 67

TEAMS

St George’s (4-2-3-1): J Hill 5 – N Paynter 6, D Signor 5, T Burgess 6, G Wade 5 (sub: J Bassett 54 5)– J Carlington 5 (sub: L Dill 54 5), K Hall 6 – J Burgess 5, M Trott 5, B Hall 6 – J Smith 5 (sub: K Wilson 45 5). Substitutes not used: E Signor Jr, J Brangman, M Simmons, N Brown. Booked: Carlington.

North Village (4-3-2-1): O Deshields 5 – J Harvey 7, T Fray 6, K Knights 5, K Harrison 5 – N Anglin 5 (sub: J Sukdeo 54 5), T Ming 6 (sub: D Dillas 73), T Williams 6 – S Somner 5, A Dos Santos 5 – P Smith 6. Substitutes not used: V Perinchief, N Smith, D Bell, J Smith-Deshields

Referee: S Green (Guyana)