St. George's 0 Dev Colts 1

Clevon Hill took advantage of a major defensive lapse by newly-promoted St.George's after 23 minutes to score the only goal in this season-opening Premier Division game at Wellington Oval.

After surviving an onslaught from the home team, Colts struck with a soft goal. Midfielder Dennis Zuill took a free kick from just inside the St. George's half and the floater somehow caught the defence asleep, allowing the nimble Hill to slip through and steer the ball home from close range.

St. George's were unlucky not to have grabbed the equaliser three minutes from the end and could only watch in agony as a fierce header by player-coach Neil Paynter from a Sinclair Gibbons corner crashed off the bar.

It was a victory that the visitors ultimately deserved even though St. George's looked impressive at the start and could have taken a 2-0 lead in the first 11 minutes.

After eight minutes, thanks to poor defending by Colts, Greg Foggo hammered a shot off the post from 12 yards and then three minutes later another sloppy effort by the defence let William Pitt through but the St. George's striker placed his shot wide from 13 yards.

Devonshire came alive after being let off the hook and Dennis Zuill put a shot wide from 19 yards after 15 minutes and Aljame Zuill headed a cross from Dennis Zuill just over three minutes later.

After falling behind to Hill's surprise goal, St. George's lost their edge for a long period and were able to escape after 30 minutes when Aljame Zuill fired a shot wide from just inside the box as the defence back pedalled.

Then the agility of goalkeeper Troy Hall came into play when he denied Colts another goal after 43 minutes, brilliantly blocking a close-range shot from Quincy Aberdeen.

The often interesting see-saw play in the opening half wasn't a sign of things to come in the second half although both teams had scoring chances.

Devonshire defender Kevin Simpson watched in agony as his header from close in crashed off the bar after a cross from the busy Aberdeen, but St. George's came back into the attacking mode 10 minutes later only to see goalkeeper Andre Hendrickson dramatically block a close-range blast from substitute Sinclair Gibbons.

Inspired by the presence of Gibbons, St. George's followed up this attack 40 seconds later only to see Gibbons put an effort wide from 12 yards when he should have done better.

The home side pushed powerfully forward at the end and with player-coach Paynter storming from defence to join a tiring attack, an equaliser always seemed possible . . . but it wasn't to be.

St. George's: T.Hall; K.Moreno, N.Paynter, U.Fox, D.Bailey; E.Signor (G.Dos Santos, 65 mins), D.Wright, W.Henry (S.Gibbons, 63 mins); K.Butterfield, W.Pitt, G.Foggo (K.Williams, 74 mins).

Dev. Colts: A.Hendrickson; Jermal Belboda (L.Holder, 73 mins), S.Burgess, M.Bean, R.Evans, K.Simpson; K.Burchall (Jermaine Belboda, 73 mins), D.Zuill, Q.Aberdeen (J.Butterfield, 83 mins); A.Zuill, C.Hill.

Men of the match: Troy Hall (St. George's); Quincy Aberdeen (Dev. Colts)

Referee: A.Mouchette.