Robin Hood 1

Dandy Town 5

A rampant Dandy Town Hornets made a flying start to their Premier Division campaign with a lopsided victory over Robin Hood at Goose Gosling Field last night.

First-half goals from Jahnazae Swan and Tomiko Goater gave the visiting side a firm grip on the game before Angelo Simmons, Quadir Maynard and Seion Darrell piled on the misery for Hood.

Other than a second-half goal from Lejuan Simmons to make it 3-1, Hood had very little to get excited about in last night’s match, which was rescheduled after being postponed because of heavy rain on September 26.

However, the scoreline did not tell the whole story, with Antwan Russell, the Hood striker, missing a glorious one-on-one chance in the fifth minute.

Had the usually reliable Russell opened the scoring then, the rest of the game may well have followed a very different narrative.

As it was, Hornets made Hood, and Russell, pay dearly by immediately going down the other end of the pitch and scoring through Swan, who finished at the back post after good work by the irrepressible Damon Ming.

Hornets doubled their lead on 22 minutes when Ming picked out Goater with a cross that the midfielder headed into the ground, with the ball bouncing over Jason Simmons in the Hood goal.

Goater should have put further daylight between the two sides but pulled his shot wide when well set moments before half-time to let Hood off the hook.

It hardly mattered, however, with Simmons adding a third soon after the restart, cutting inside on the edge of the box and firing a low shot into the left-hand corner.

By now Hood were looking bereft of belief, with Hornets seeming capable of scoring at will, however it was Simmons, the Hood winger, who was next on the scoresheet with a low-angled shot from the edge of area.

In fairness, Hood showed moments of attacking invention but continually made poor decisions in the final third, an area of the pitch where Hornets had no such problems.

Maynard, the Town substitute, put the visiting side firmly back in control on 80 minutes with a left-footed shot from just outside the box which Simmons should have perhaps done better with.

Seion Darrell, the Hornets captain, then completed the rout with a well-executed free kick late on that he curled into the top corner.

Jomar Wilkinson, the Town coach, enthused about his side’s ruthless finishing but admitted the game could have been very different had Russell taken his early opportunity.

“I’m delighted with the result and even more delighted with the way we played,” Wilkinson said.

“We played collectively and as a unit, and there was some good movement in the final third — it was very fluid.

“However, I think if Antwan had taken that early chance the game could have been very different.

“Thankfully for us, he missed and we went straight back down there and scored which set the stage for some positive football from us.”