Robin Hood 0 St George’s 6

St. George’s Colts took advantage of PHC’s midweek loss to move to the top of the standings by thrashing Robin Hood at Goose Gosling Field on Saturday night.

A hat-trick from striker Jonté Smith led the way for the East Enders, who now top the teague by a point with five league matches remaining.

“To win 6-0 and keep a clean sheet is good but I thought we could have done better in certain phases of the game”, St. George’s coach Jarreau Hayward said.

“This is the business end of the season and we have to tighten things up, but overall I am proud of the guys. Now that we are on top, we will take it one game at a time from here on.”

Knowing what was at stake, St. George’s came out firing on all cylinders but were guilty of some early misses as Hood captain Liam Evans blocked Smith’s goalbound header before Jahron Dickinson beat Hood goalkeeper, coach Detroy Smith, but not the upright with his firm drive.

Jonté Smith should have opened the scoring in the 13th minute but shot wide after intercepting a bad backpass with only his namesake to beat.

Although St. George’s had dominated play, Hood stubborn in defence with Evans and Fulton working hard to keep their opponents at bay for the opening half hour.

The away side finally opened the scoring in fortuitous fashion when Jonté Smith’s low drive took a deflection off Fulton, which wrong-footed Detroy Smith and nestled in the bottom corner of the net.

Jonté Smith would open his account proper right on half time when Dickinson weaved his way through the Hood defence only to be brought down inside the box. Smith planted his spot-kick to give St.George’s a two-goal cushion at the break.

Hood dominated a small period of play as the second half started with young midfielder Kwame Naylor showing flashes of brilliance with his dribbling skills and crafty footwork but he ran out of partners to threaten the St. George’s defence.

Jonté Smith scored his second and St. George’s third when he tapped in Blaiz Hall’s cutback from the touchline and would secure his hat-trick, but not without controversy, as he looked to be in an offside position as the ball was played to him before sidefooting into the net among appeals for offside.

Goalkeeper Detroy Smith did well to keep the score respectable as he made a point-blank save to deny Blaiz Hall’s goalbound drive but minutes later he finished off a good build-up from midfield to hit a low drive into the corner from 12 yards to make it 5-0. E

Ereico Outerbridge should have had a consolation goal for Hood after a free kick found its way through only for St. George’s goalkeeper Jahquil Hill to make a fine save with his feet before St. George’s captain Kashe Hall closed out the scoring with the best goal of the night when he picked up the ball before unleashing a 35-yard scorcher that sailed into the top-left corner.

SCORERS

St. George’s Colts: L Fulton (OG) 35, J Smith 44 (pen),65,68, B Hall 73. K Hall 87

TEAMS

Robin Hood (4-1-4-1): D Smith 7 --- N Massa 6, L Evans 8, L Fulton 7, D Simmons 5 --- N Edwards 6 ---E Outerbridge 6, K Naylor 8, T Lowe 6 (sub: D Brangman, 63min 5), R Smith 6 --- A Ebbin 5. Booked: D Smith, T Lowe.

St. George’s Colts (4-1-4-1): J Hill 6 --- J Darrell 6, D Signor 6, T Burgess 6, M Paynter 6 ---N Paynter 7 (sub: E Signor, 74) --- K Hall 8, B Hall 8, J Dickinson 6 (sub: C Burns, 82), J Brangman 5 (sub: L Dill 66, 5) --- J Smith 8 (sub: A Douglas, 74) (sub: S Blair-Paynter, 82). Substitutes not used: G Wade, W Broadley. Booked: T Burgess.

Referee: T Simons