Dandy Town won the Martonmere Cup for the third time yesterday at Wellington Oval when Colts paid the price for failing to convert chances into goals in the first half.

Against the run of play Town took the lead late in the first half through Reggie Tucker. The second, by defender Dano Outerbridge, made certain of victory though a goal by Colts captain Shannon Burgess in the 75th minute set the stage for an exciting finish as Town hung on.

But the match might have been different had Colts turned their territorial advantage in the first half into goals. Marvin Belboda, who has scored three goals in this season's competition as a substitute, was given a starting role up front with Jerry Laws.

Belboda posed some early problems for the Town defence and almost broke the deadlock with his first chance in the second minute after getting on the end of an Aljame Zuill pass before lifting a shot over the top.

Colts threatened again with two free kicks on the edge of the box in the 12th and 13th minutes, but both efforts were blocked by the Town wall.

It was definitely all Colts as a minute later Laws put a shot into the side-netting after Jermel Belboda started the move with a run down the opposite flank.

Town continued soaking up the pressure when Colts won three straight corners on the half hour. Soon after that Tito Smith shot inches over the bar from another corner.

If Colts were finding it difficult to score, the same didn't apply to Town who broke the deadlock in the 39th minute when midfielder Kris Martin created the opening with a pass from the left and Tucker got on the end of the cross to tuck a low shot pass goalkeeper Troy Hall.

"It was totally against the run of play,'' Town coach Mark Trott acknowledged afterwards.

"We were all over the place at the time and were totally disorganised in the middle of the park. But what is our signature is our counter-attacks and it was the perfect counter-attack and Reggie took the goal well.'' Having seized the initiative, Town almost added a second goal four minutes later, but this time Hall made a good low save at the near post to deny Outerbridge from a free kick and then recovered quickly as Martin pounced on the rebound.

Just inches separated Colts from an equaliser five minutes into the second half as Shannon Burgess got on the end of a freekick on the left by Jermel Belboda and saw his header just miss the near post.

And to make that miss more agonising, Town went upfield a minute later and added a second goal. Aljame Zuill knocked Kris Martin off his feet deep on the left side which brought an angry reaction from the Town player.

However, regaining his composure, he flighted in a cross which Outerbridge met at the far post to score past Hall.

To their credit Colts never dropped their heads and immediately introduced college student Quincy Aberdeen and Sekai Waldron as subs, which gave them a noticeable lift. And with Burgess now playing in a more attacking role, Town were forced to do a lot of defending as Colts came charging back.

Burgess, who had now abandoned his central defensive position, gave the Colts fans some hope when he met Marvin Belboda's corner from the right and scored with a header at the far post in the 75th minute.

Aberdeen, who had earlier blasted over, just missed sending the game into extra time when he met a perfect pass from Keishon Smith and lobbed the ball over the advancing Jason Smith only to see it drop on top of the netting in the closing minutes.

New Premier, Jennifer Smith, on hand at the presentation along with with Youth and Sports Minister, Dennis Lister, assured the players there were some exciting plans in store for the sport.

For now Town are happy to have their hands on the Martonmere Cup, as Colts lost their fifth straight final in this competition.

"Colts are like a perrenial cup team, though they seem not to be able to win the big one at times,'' said Trott.

"That's no discredit to them because they find a way to get to the finals.

You have to realise they are not going to give up, it's a big day and their pride is not going to let them give up. Some of our guys struggled a bit, Devon Binns, in his first time back, had been injured and Kris (Martin) got a knock and he realised he couldn't go anymore.'' Dandy Town: J.Smith; D.Bailey, J.Marshall, D.Outerbridge, L.Furbert, D.Boyles, D.Binns (J.Wilkinson 66min), P.Cann, K.Martin (H.Wolffe 75min), D.Simons, R.Tucker (M.Smith 88min).

Dev.Colts: T.Hall; J.Simmons, S.Burgess, M.Hollis, J.Belboda, J.Samuels (Q.Aberdeen 65min), K.Smith, A.Zuill, T.Smith, M.Belboda, J.Laws (S.Waldron 64min).

Referee: Gary Cook Men of the match: Kris Martin (Town), Shannon Burgess (Colts).

A minute's silence was observed at the start of the match in respect of former St. George's Cup Match player Wellington (Buster) Smith who died yesterday. He played for St. George's between 1944 and '59, scoring 444 runs in 21 innings.