St. George’s Colts 1 Somerset Eagles 0

A lone strike from Jelani Carlington rescued all three points for St. George’s Colts against Somerset Eagles in an evenly-contested Premier Division match at Wellington Oval yesterday.

The result moved Colts into the top half of the table and left Colts assistant coach Calvin Dill Jr satisfied with the team’s approach to the contest.

“I thought we controlled the game from the start. We were patient and let things happen,” Dill Jr said.

“The more chances you have, one of them has to go in. The players are starting to believe in the coaches so we will start to see the results we deserve,”

The game started at a slow pace with neither team taking control.

Player/coach, Jensen Rogers was a noticeable addition in the Eagles squad as he started at centre back in an effort to bring some stability to the Eagles’s backline.

The Eagles managed to carve out the first threat on goal when Koshun Durrant sent Keedai Astwood clear down the right flank. Astwood then dribble inside from an angle to force St. George’s goalkeeper Zeko Burgess, to rush off his line and block the shot for a corner.

Colts replied within minutes when Osagi Bascome chipped a pass for Wayne Broadley to run onto.

Broadley pushed the ball around the onrushing Eagles goalkeeper, Troy Hall, forcing Rogers to make a desperate tackle as he headed for goal.

Broadley should have opened the scoring midway through the half when keeper Hall dropped a corner at his foot but he somehow slammed his effort over the top from within the six-yard box.

The Colts were almost made to pay for that miss shortly afterwards after the Eagles created an opening following a good build-up from midfield.

Anwar Telford played Astwood through and his back-heel pass found the path of Shakir Smith, but the striker would only shoot straight at keeper Burgess, as both teams went into the break locked in a stalemate.

The opening minutes of the second half saw St. George’s bombard the Eagles goal in search of the breakthrough but the wasteful Broadley missed a one-on-one with the keeper before Tre McCallan forced Hall into a diving save.

The lone goal finally arrived shortly afterwards when captain LaShun Dill floated a high cross into the Eagles’s penalty area, which was half-cleared.

The ball fell to Carlington at the top of the box, whose low drive through the crowded goalmouth area nestled in the corner of Hall’s net to give the hosts what would prove to be the winner.

Referee Garic Swainson brought some anxiety into the match in the 78th minute when he was caught flush in the face from an attempted clearance and laid still on the ground.

After a four-minute delay and treatment from both teams’s medics, he managed to finish the game.

SCORERS

St George’s Colt: J Carlington 72

TEAMS

St. George’s Colts (4-2-3-1): S Burgess 6 ‒ A Francis 5, E Signor 6, N Paynter 6, J Darrell 5 ‒ D Signor 6, J Carlington 6 (sub: S Blair-Paynter 78) ‒ L Dill 6, T McCallan 5, W Broadley 6 (sub: J Dickenson 68 5) ‒ O Bascome 6 (sub: M Simmons 73). Substitutes not used: J Brangman, C King, J Bassett, K Onley. Booked: W Broadley, O Bascome.

Somerset Eagles (4-3-3) T Hall 6 ‒ M Iris-Simmons 5, J Rogers 6, K Evans 5, S Lambert 6 (sub: S James 88) ‒ K Durrant 6, A Telford 6, D Joell 5 (sub: K Harrison 76) ‒ S Smith 6, E Fubler 5 (sub: D Simmons 78), K Astwood 6. Substitutes not used: J Roberts, J Rumley. Booked: K Durrant

Referee: G Swainson