St George’s 2

Paget Lions 0

St George’s moved into the first round of the FA Cup after two second-half strikes from Donavan Thompson saw off a stubborn Paget Lions at Wellington Oval.

Beaten 6-1 by the same opponents a week ago, Paget frustrated the home side in the first half.

St George’s created some good chances and even had strong claims for a penalty turned down just before the interval when Tariq Smith, the Paget goalkeeper, floored Thompson after racing towards the edge of his penalty area.

Tashun Simons, the referee, ignored the claims.

The best chance of the first half fell to St George’s in the 22nd minute when Thompson laid on a pass to Jahron Dickinson inside the box and his shot hit the inside of the far post before rebounding into the arms of a relieved Smith.

Paget had a setback right before the half when defender Arrington Smith limped off with a leg injury and was replaced at the start of the second half by Demarlo Curtis who joined captain Kyhon Smith in the Paget front line.

St George’s finally broke the deadlock two minutes after the restart when Thompson scored for the third straight match when Zion Smith-Tucker fed him a through pass and the lanky striker did the rest, using his pace to get through before slotting low to the goalkeeper’s right.

St George’s threatened to extend their lead as the pace of Dickinson and Thompson continued to pose problems for Paget’s defence while the strength of Curtis and Smith kept Paget in the hunt for an equaliser.

However, Paget survived a scare when Jahniya Richardson gave the ball away near the halfway line as Jahron Dickinson raced through on the left before shooting wide as Smith came off his line.

Moments after Paget went close from a corner, Thompson scored in similar fashion after racing onto a pass through the defence before keeping his calm to slot a low shot past Smith in the final minute.

Kyle Williams, the St George’s coach, was pleased with the team’s performance even though Paget looked a much-improved side from the previous weekend.

“We haven’t been training this week because of the hurricane and guys having to attend to their families, so we were a little rusty,” Williams said.

“To go into the half level, especially going against the wind, and then to come out and get a goal right away I was pretty happy about that,” Williams said.

“It showed character, having chances but things not going your way. We held on at 1-0 and then ended the game on a nice reward with a 2-0 result. Donovan took his goals really well.”

Williams makes no secret of the team’s main goal which is promotion.

“With a team like this, with a nice structure and concept, our first goal is promotion. All the cups that come along the way, we’ll just try our best to compete,” he said.

• Marco Mota’s wonder-strike 15 minutes from time rescued a draw for Butterfield & Vallis in their preliminary round game against Southampton Rangers yesterday.

The home side took the lead through Davion Roberts, but could not hold on against a Corona League side who have made a habit of beating teams above them over the past couple of years.

TEAMS

Scorers

St George’s (Thompson 47, 90)

St George’s (4-4-2): C Marshall — D Signor, E Signor, P Anderson, J Darrell — K Denbrook, J Bassett, J Hayward (sub: T Talbot, 77min), Z Smith-Darrell — J Dickinson, D Thompson. Substitutes not used: G Wade, J Brangman, K Ottley, J Carlington. Booked: Smith-Tucker.

Paget Lions (4-4-2): T Smith — A Smith (sub: D Curtis, 46), McKario Burch, R Richardson, J Richardson — McQuinn Burch, K Hypolite, Kenneth Durrant, D Morris — K Smith, Koshun Durrant. Substitutes not used: R Lee, A Dean, J Beach. Booked: Hypolite, Koshun Durrant, Richardson.

Referee: T Simons.