North Village 1 Somerset Eagles 0

Pierre Smith’s early strike was enough for North Village Rams to dispatch a hard-working Somerset Eagles in a tense Premier Division encounter at North Village Field.

From the opening whistle both teams tried to establish control. The Rams and the Eagles enjoyed frequent offensive raids, but had little to show for their efforts thanks to timely and stifling defensive play employed by both sides on either sides of the pitch.

The Rams clipped the wings of the Eagles in the eighth minute when veteran midfielder Keishen Bean was able to shake off a defender and thread a perfect pass, which split the Eagles’ defence and found a streaking Smith, who controlled the ball in stride. Smith raced in on goal one on one with the Eagles keeper, Lorenzo Lambert, advancing rapidly off his line. However, Smith was able to get off a low shot that just eluded Lambert to nestle just inside the left upright to give the Rams the advantage.

Village’s Tahmi Williams came dangerously close to extending his team’s lead late in the first half when he ran unchecked from the midfield to get off a blistering shot from 25 yards that sailed just wide of goal.

Eagles’ Cardell Henry, who gave the Rams defence fits with his pace and ball control, was gifted a perfect opportunity to level the score in the 75th minute. However, Lambert could only watch in frustration then collapse in agony after he chipped the ball well over the crossbar from inside the six-yard box, with Rams goalkeeper Jason Williams well off his line.

Both teams would continued pressing for the final 15 minutes, with neither managing to find the back of the net, leaving the Rams to run off victorious.

Eagles coach Roger Lee said: “Our guys played a good game against a well-coached Village team today who really forced us to play our game.”

SCORER

North Village: Smith 8

TEAMS

North Village (3-4-3): J Williams — T Wilson, J Harvey, J Briers — S Hollis, T Fray, T Williams (sub: J Davis, 59min) P Smith (sub: D Daniels, 61) — D Tankard, P Parsons (sub: R Bean, 74), K Bean.

Substitutes not used: T Durham, Z Bowen, K Knights, R Dill. Booked: Wilson.

Somerset Eagles (4-4-2): L Lambert — L Burch, K Fray, K Harrison, C Henry — A Bean (sub: T Harvey, 60), S Lambert (sub: A Wilkinson, 80), R Quinn, G Smith — T Smith, A Telford (sub: R Seaman, 82).

Substitutes not used: K Virgil, S James, C Medeiros, J Santos, J Simmons. Booked: Henry.

Referee: M Wyer.