Dandy Town 3 North Village 1

Dandy Town avenged their only loss of the season and kept pressure on title rivals PHC when they defeated North Village with an outstanding first-half display last night at Goose Gosling Field.

The victory increased Town’s lead on PHC at the top of the Premier Division standings to five points though the Zebras now have a game in hand on the Hornets.

It was a frantic first half with Town, who lost to Village 2-0 in December, never looking back after taking a 2-0 lead inside the first 20 minutes.

Kamali Davis opened the scoring in the fourteenth minute when he ran through on the left, cut in on his right foot and drove a low shot inside the near post from within the box.

Village had a chance to equalise a few minutes later when Justin Bell’s cross from the right set up striker Rai Simons perfectly but he side-footed his effort wide of the far post from close range.

Chances were coming fast at both ends as Cecoy Robinson of Town then smashed his shot from outside the box against the crossbar with goalkeeper Detre Bell well beaten.

A minute later Town did get that second goal when Nizigh Spence converted a left-footed effort from close range.

Town were controlling the game now as they kept Village on the defensive, however, the Rams had the perfect response, netting against the run of play on the half-hour mark with the best goal of the game.

Village broke through on the left through Justin Bell who played a ball into the box for Owen Botelho to challenge the goalkeeper Jaden Manders. The ball was only cleared as far as Ian Simmons who hit a first-time shot from 30 yards into the roof of the net.

However, that would be the closest Village would come to threatening Town’s lead as three minutes later, the Hornets reclaimed their two-goal lead with their third strike of the half through Enrique Swan who steered the ball past Bell following a cross into the goal area.

Botelho went close to scoring a second for Village just before the half when his shot from close range was blocked for a corner by Manders.

“Our game plan was to come out of the blocks pretty hard, apply pressure early and see what comes out of it,” said Aaron Denkins, the Town coach.

“We show that in the first half we have a lot of energy, our offence is pretty good in the first half so our second half was always going to be about being resilient, being intelligent and just keeping teams out.”

Village did enjoy a good spell early in the second half but Town showed solid defensive qualities to secure the clean sheet. They were, however, forced into their first substitution midway through the second half when defender Terrance Webb suffered an injury and had to be replaced by Seion Darrell.

Defender Jomei Bean-Lindo felt he was harshly booked by visiting referee, Jamar Springer of Barbados when he went off the field to retrieve a ball that was kicked behind the substitute’s benches, as a replacement ball was pushed forward by match officials.

He almost took out his frustration with a fourth goal for Town goal in the closing minutes when his free kick around the wall brought off a good diving save at the near post by Bell.

At the other end Seth Somner drove a loose ball well over the top after Manders dropped the ball from a Lazio Outerbridge cross.

Village suffered a further setback in the 90th minute when captain Tahmi Williams was sent off for a foul on Spence after being booked a few minutes earlier for another infringement.

SCORERS

Dandy Town: Davis 14, Spence 19, Swan 33

North Village: Simmons 30

Dandy Town (4-4-2): J Manders 7 – E Blankendal 6, T Manders 7, T Webb 6 (sub: S Darrell 67min 6), J Bean-Lindo 6 – N Spence 7, A Furbert 7, T Goater 6, E Swan 6 (sub: S Tatem 83) – C Robinson 6 (sub: M Parsons 83), K Davis 6 (sub: J Samuels 70 6). Substitutes not used: J Roser, M Isaac, J Johnson. Booked: Swan, Furbert.

North Village (4-3-3): D Bell 6 – K Knights 6, T Fray 6, T Williams 6, J Harvey 6 – V Perinchief 6, I Simmons 7, D Daniels 5 (sub: S Somner 35 5) – R Simons 6 (sub: L Outerbridge 82), O Botelho 7, J Bell 7. Substitutes not used: O DeShields, P Smith, K Carrington, J Smith-DeShields. Booked: Williams. Sent off: Williams.

Referee: J Springer (Barbados)