St George’s 3 Somerset Trojans 1

Manoj Paynter led St George’s to a comfortable victory over Somerset at Wellington Oval on Saturday.

The young winger was involved in all three goals, scoring the opener as well as grabbing two assists, as the East End outfit rode a few periods of Trojans pressure to seal their second win of the season.

Both sides had clear-cut chances in the opening moments, but St George's Jarazinho Bassett and Trojans’ Haile Eve were unable to take advantage.

One such opening saw Jahkari Furbert found by Jaden Ratteray-Smith, who in turn released Eve one-on-one with goalkeeper William White.

A few minutes later, Jelani Carlington and Kashe Hall linked up before the latter tried to pick out Manoj Paynter, who could not take the pass in his stride.

Around the half-hour mark, the hosts finally took the lead after a prolonged period of possession. A flowing started by Jibri Salaam switching play to Ari Cannonier, resulted in Hall threading a pass through to N’zari Paynter who finished low past Jade Morrissey.

Just before the break, Trojans got back on terms from a set-piece. Ratteray-Smith took the corner, but it was initially cleared. Paris Robinson put the ball back into the box, which fooled the Colts’ defence and Haile Eve was on hand to pounce on the loose ball and finish into the near post.

St George’s recovered from the late setback at the end of the first half, finding their rhythm again to regain a foothold in the game in the early stages of the second half.

The hosts retook the lead ten minutes into the second period with a neat move, with Manoj turning provider this time. Sibling Nzari started the move off by playing forward for Jelani Carlington, who spread the play for Manoj to drive into space along the left-flank and square for Jarazinho Bassett to side-foot past Morrissey.

Somerset tried to push for the equaliser, and squandered a glorious opportunity when Furbert was played through by Ratteray-Smith, but he could not direct his shot on target to test White.

Straight from the resulting goal-kick, St George’s finally doubled their lead, this time midfield maestro Hall starting and finishing the move. He first fended off the attentions of McNeil and found Kurtis Minors, who played a driven pass into the left channel for Paynter, who drove a first-time ball to the sprinting Hall, who finished first-time with his instep.

Trojans continued to get forward with intent, but failed to construct their attacks effectively, thus being unable to truly change the momentum of the match.

Shields was increasingly important in the final stages, and could have been the catalyst to a comeback had his cross been properly converted by Jadon Simmons, but the substitute dragged his effort wide.

Allan Douglas had a golden chance to make it four for the hosts, but his effort was blocked after Hall found him in the right channel, and Minors sliced the rebound into touch for an opposition throw.

Hall was later given his marching orders for a second yellow card after a challenge on Furbert in midfield, but despite the setback St George’s played out the remainder of the game to claim all three points.

SCORERS

St George’s: Paynter 30, Bassett 54, Hall 62

Somerset Trojans: Eve 43

TEAMS

St George’s (4-2-3-1): W Z White 6 – N Paynter 6, P Anderson 7, A Simons 6, J Salaam 6 (sub: G Wade, 81min) – K Minors 5 (sub: D Bascome, 73), J Carlington 6 (sub: C Neal, 73) – A Cannonier 6, K Hall 7, M Paynter 7 – J Bassett 6 (sub: A Douglas, 62 5) Substitutes not used: A Francis. Booked: Carlington, Hall. Sent off: Hall.

Somerset Trojans (4-2-3-1): J Morrissey 6 – J Shields 6, O Moore 5 (sub: J Greaves, 67 5), M Tear-Deleon 5, C McNeil 6 – J Ratteray-Smith 6, P Robinson 5 – J Furbert 6, R Russell 5, H Eve 6 (sub: J Simmons, 67 5) – E Mendes 5. Substitutes not used: Z Brown, M Wilson, H Butterfield, D Bean. Booked: Robinson, Mendes.

Referee: A Francis.