Somerset Trojans 2 North Village 1

Justin Corday snatched a late winner to earn relegation-threatened Somerset Trojans their first league win of the season at Somerset Cricket Club yesterday.

The Trojans midfielder lashed in Jaden Ratteray-Smith’s cross in the 90th minute to finally settle a scrappy match, which contest neither side managed to take charge of.

“It feels good to win and the first one always feels good,” said Corday, who gave Trojans a 1-0 advantage at the break before Kyler Knights equalised for the visiting side near the hour mark.

“We should have had it, but it feels good to finally come. We work hard every week and we deserved this.”

Musceo Hunt, the Trojans coach, was pleased with his team’s work ethic and hopes they can build on the encouraging result and steer clear of relegation.

“The players worked hard and they deserved the victory, especially playing with the intensity that was needed to get us the win,” he said.

“I’m just grateful for the guys hard work and we were able to finally get three points on the table. Hopefully this will give us the momentum to keep going forward in a positive direction.”

Trojans were indeed deserving of their win as they held a slight advantage possession-wise and created more chances.

The home side came out swinging with forwards D’Andre Wainwright and Deunte Darrell wreaking havoc with their movement and pace.

Darrell picked out Jaden Ratteray-Smith with a superb pass on a quick break, but Ratteray-Smith’s angled shot was comfortably saved by Village goalkeeper Tahj Bell.

Trojans threatened again when defender Coolidge Durham had a volley headed away off the line by Village midfielder Chekai Caisey.

The home side were awarded a penalty after a handball, but Village were let off the hook as Trojans captain Damon Swan dragged his spot kick wide.

However, Village would not be as fortunate moments later as Corday finished off some unselfish play by Darrell to put Trojans in front.

Darrell beat the offside trap and after drawing the goalkeeper and defence towards him, passed to the wide open Corday who finished the job.

Village’s only real chance during the first half came when Pierre Smith’s header from a free kick was saved by Trojans goalkeeper Shaquille Bean.

Whatever advice Village coach Randy Spence gave his players during the break certainly had the desired effect as the visiting side came out a completely different side in the second half.

Village started stringing together passes and creating space and it came as no surprise when Knights pounced to bring the teams level.

The full back ran unchecked into the box and smashed Caisey’s corner into the roof of the net.

The game then opened up with both sides throwing numbers forward in search of a winner.

Trojans midfielder Jaz Ratteray-Smith gave an ominous sign of things to come when he went close twice to regaining the lead.

First, he did well to create enough space under pressure to fire off a shot that flashed just wide of the far post and then had another effort from close range saved by Bell.

Trojans dominated the closing minutes and finally made the breakthrough when Corday hit the target from close range after his initial attempt rebounded back into his path.

“It was a hard loss today,” Spence, the Village coach, said. “I thought we at least deserved a share of the spoils but mental lapses in the game cost us.

“I applaud Somerset on their hard work to defend at home, but we should have done better.”

Goals

Someret Trojans: Corday 16, 90

North Village 1: Knights 57

Somerset Trojans: S Bean — M Henschke (sub: A Seaman, 86min), C Durham, S Brangman, T Ming, D Swan (sub, Z Smith, 86) Jaz Ratteray-Smith (sub: K Hollis, 86), Jadan Ratteray-Smith, J Corday, D Darrell, D Wainwright. Substitutes not used: H Butterfield, J Butterfield, S Tatum, D Zuill, Y Williams. Booked: Wainwright.

North Village (4-3-3): T Bell — J Thomas, K Francoios, P Castle, K Knights, M Thomas, C Caisey, D Dillas, Z Hendrickson, P Smith, J Smith-DeShields (sub: W Shakir, 88). Substitutes not used: G Butterfield, J Briers, K Dill. Booked: J Thomas, Caisey, M Thomas, Z Hendrickson, Knights.

Referee: T Simons