North Village 3

Somerset Trojans 0<$>After a typically slow start, North Village’s season sprung spectacularly to life at Bernard Park yesterday after the triple crown winners secured an enormously impressive victory over the high-flying Somerset Trojans.

Following a tight and scoreless first half where shots on target were few and far between, Village’s Nakia Smith popped up in the box in the 65th minute to ram home a shot from 15 yards, before an absolute rocket from the left foot of teenaged substitute Shayne Hollis — who was a full 30 yards from goal — put the game beyond doubt with a little over ten minutes to go.

And Ralph Bean jr then rounded off the win with a far-post header via a delightful cross from Village’s midfield playmaker Keith Jennings to bring Trojans crashing back down to earth after the high of last weekend’s 4-0 mauling of Dandy Town at St. John’s Road.

The result means the Rams, who had been struggling to find their best form in the opening few weeks of the season, leapfrog Trojans into second place in the Premier Division with eight points — a solitary point back from table-toppers Boulevard.

While the game became more stretched and entertaining to watch after the break, anybody who left the ground after the first 45 minutes could have been forgiven for assuming that what had been an insipid, lacklustre encounter up to then was hardly likely to get better.

Though they controlled the midfield before the break, frequently winning headers with ease and generally appearing the more hungry of the two sides, the end product was ultimately lacking from Village’s play while their opponents, having looked so fluid and penetrative the week before against the Hornets, were firing blanks in front of a surprisingly sparse and subdued crowd.

With five minutes to play before the half-time whistle, however, Village appeared to find their rhythm — stringing together at least 20 consecutive passes before Bean had a chance to cross from the goal-line — only to watch in frustration as his effort fizzed menacingly across the six-yard box with nobody there to get on the end of it.

But right from the re-start, the reigning Premier Division, FA Cup and Friendship Trophy champs turned on the style, the energetic Jennings going close with a powerful right foot shot which was blocked on the line before Smith took advantage of some indecisive Trojans defending to pounce on a loose ball in the penalty area and give the home side a deserved lead.

Dennis Brown’s boys certainly couldn’t be criticised for a lack of effort, though their inability to gain any sort of foothold in the centre of the park cost them dear and put even more pressure on the likes of national teamers like Stephen Astwood and Jelani Scott to conjure something out of nothing.

They had the stuffing well and truly knocked out of them, however, by young Hollis’ exquisite strike — surely a leading candidate for goal of the season.

By then clearly dispirited, Trojans were totally overrun in the game’s latter stages as Village poured forward in search of the killer blow, something which ultimately came through Bean’s neat header from point-blank range. “We’re starting to come into our own now and hopefully this will be the start of a good run of form for us,” said Rams coach Dwayne Adams afterwards.

“We knew coming into the game that Trojans had been playing well and that we had to find a balance between respecting the fact that they’re a good side but not giving them too much respect and allowing them to dictate the game.

“But the match was won in midfield today. We controlled it from the very beginning but it was only in the second half that you started to see the effects of that and we were able to pull them apart.

“All the goals were good, but it really was a special strike from Shayne. He’s a brilliant young player who is going to get better and better as he matures and we’ll be looking for consistently good performances from him in the future.

“But the key this season has been trying to forget about what happened last year and start afresh. Obviously winning the triple crown was a great achievement but it’s a new season, a new challenge and we’ve got to get over what we achieved last year and focus on what we’re going to do this year.”

North Village: J.Williams, J.Boyles, K.Dill, M.Hansey, R.Wilson, K.Dill, R.Bean, Keith Jennings, N.Smith, D.Hunt (S.Hollis 65), D.DeGraff (J.Simmons 85)

Somerset Trojans: <$>A.Burrows, S.Riley, A.Lambert, S.Simmons, M.Butterfield, M.Wade, Q.Aberdeen, (C.Robinson 81), J.Scott, S.Astwood, D.Stovell, M.Thomas

Booked<$>: A.Lambert (Trojans)

Man of the Match<$>: D.DeGraff (Village)

Referee: Lyndon Raynor