Devonshire Colts 4 St George’s Colts 0

Senoj Mitchell tormented his former team-mates as Devonshire Colts brought high-flying St George’s Colts back down to earth at Police Field yesterday.

The 24-year-old scored twice while fellow forwards Elisha Darrell and Chemarl Henry, a substitute, were also on target for the home side, who dominated this Premier Division affair to record their first shutout win for the season.

Mitchell rejoined his childhood club from St George’s during the summer transfer period and has already made an impact with four goals.

“I came back to the real Colts. That’s where I was born and raised, so happy to help them beat my old team,” Mitchell told The Royal Gazette.

“It was a very good performance from everybody and very happy to get our first clean sheet of the season. Everybody worked very good together to get the shutout.”

Colts coach Ray Jones was delighted by his team’s improved performance.

“The performance this week was much better,” he said.

“They [St George’s] like to keep the ball, especially in the centre of the park. So we focused on really trying to clip balls in the channel to turn them, and I think we were profitable.

“Also, we did a lot of work last week on set plays, so there was a lot of activity on throws and corners. We did a lot of work in those areas and that’s how we actually broke the scoreline.”

Colts should have won by a wider margin, as they squandered glorious chances and also had a penalty saved.

“The only negative was in the first half when we had more than enough chances and another penalty that we didn’t capitalise on,” Jones said.

“But second half we came out and ran at them again and got that second goal, which calmed us a bit. In the end, the scoreline and the result were reflective of how dominant we were.”

St George’s went into the match with their confidence soaring after reaching the Dudley Eve Trophy final. They started brightly with Colts goalkeeper Jaden Mills-Furbert called into action early to save Kashe Hall’s header on the end of a Liam Evans free kick.

The home side eventually found their groove and began creating chances of their own, with Mitchell, Darrell, Keino Burch and Teniko Eve causing problems.

Eve played Mitchell through on goal, but was thwarted when St George’s goalkeeper Troy Hall rushed off his line to clear the danger.

Mitchell then shot wide after linking up well with Darrell before again being denied by Hall and having another effort take a deflection off an opponent.

Colts’ relentless pressure finally paid off when Mitchell rose highest to head home Jorj Dublin’s searching cross after St George’s failed to clear a free kick by Zuhri Burgess.

Burch should have done better after getting behind the defence, but squirted his effort wide with the goal at his mercy. The industrious Burgess then had a howitzer from just outside of the box sail over after being fed by Mitchell.

Colts were awarded a penalty when the St George’s goalkeeper fouled Daniel Ball while attempting to gather another Burgess. But Darrell would be twice denied, as his initial spot-kick was parried by Hall and his follow-up hit the bar and was cleared to safety.

St George’s suffered another setback just before the break when experienced forward Jahron Dickinson went off after pulling a hamstring.

Colts compensated for earlier missed chances in the second half and scored three more unanswered goals to put the match beyond reach.

Darrell doubled their advantage when he tapped in Burch’s pullback from close range before Mitchell grabbed his second to make it 3-0 when left with the simple task of slotting into an empty net after Burgess’s long ball came off the body of defender Jonas Schroder and eluded Hall as he advanced to collect.

Colts substitute Jahzardae Samuels nearly got in on the scoring act when his angled shot rolled just wide, while Hall came off his line again to beat Mitchell to an inviting cross.

St George’s were forced to make another unscheduled change when Evans went off with a niggle in second-half stoppage time.

However, there was still enough time for substitute Henry to put the icing on his team’s emphatic victory when he cleverly flicked Dublin’s pass around defender Isaiah Greaves and fired past Hall from an angle on the right side of the box.

“We didn’t have the legs today,” St George’s coach Drewonde Bascome said.

“We played a hard game through the week and the guys are fatigued. But that’s no excuse for a 4-0 defeat.”

SCORERS

Devonshire Colts: Mitchell 15, 61, Darrell 51, Henry 90+4

TEAMS

Devonshire Colts (4-3-3): J Mills-Furbert 7 — M Isaac 7, J Dublin 7, D Jackson 7, S Robinson 7 — Z Burgess 8, S Mitchell 8, D Ball 7 (sub: S Blair-Paynter, 77min) — K Burch 8 (sub: J Samuels, 68 7), E Darrell 7 (sub: J Lindo-Bean, 68 7), T Eve 7 (sub: C Henry, 68 7). Booked: D Jackson. Substitutes not used: J Jackson.

St George's Colts (4-3-3): T Hall 5 — I Greaves 5, N Paynter 5, J Schroder 5, R Richards 4 (sub: K Jacobs, 35 5) — L Evans 6 (sub: M Tucker, 90), K Hall 6, J Bassett 6 — I Gibbons 5, B Hall 5, J Dickinson 5 (sub: A Cumberbatch, 44 5). Booked: Paynter. Substitutes not used: D Lodge.

Referee: C Hayward.