Dandy Town 0 North Village 1

North Village Rams secured their first win with a hard-fought triumph over Dandy Town Hornets at Bernard Park last night in a rescheduled Premier Division match.

Jordan Outerbridge was in the right place at the right time after Town goalkeeper Jahquil Hill deflected Knory Scott’s firm drive on to the crossbar. Outerbridge was quickest to react and bundle the ball over the line, allowing Village coach Cal “Patches” Dill a sigh of relief.

“It is good to get three points,” Dill said. “Before the game, I asked my players when are we finally going to step up the ladder? The boys came prepared and played a good game.

“We controlled the match for the most part and it was nice to see someone else get on the scoresheet other than Jonté [Smith] to get the three points.”

Dandy Town started the match brighter when captain Tomiko Goater was given room to dribble before shooting on target, forcing Village goalkeeper Detre Bell into a diving save to his right. Moments later, Village’s Amir Dill made a darting run down the right flank and cut inside, but sliced wide under pressure.

Village full back Khimo Harrison nearly gifted Town the opener when he miscontrolled a pass that allowed Jahkari Furbert a to shot on goal. But Bell responded for a second time to make a diving save to keep the clean sheet intact.

The nominal “away” side started to dominate possession of the match and nearly scored when an attempted clearance by defender Danté Leverock went back towards his own goal, but bounced with the Town goalkeeper beaten. Hill then had to push the resulting inswinging corner over the crossbar.

A bit of indiscipline led to Town being reduced to ten players in the 33rd minute when captain Goater retaliated after being fouled, kicking out at Seke Spence and leaving referee Anthony Francis little choice but to dismiss him for serious foul play.

Outerbridge would then score the only goal of the match in the 43rd minute, leaving previously unbeaten Town a mountain to climb.

The match was halted for three minutes just before half-time when lights on the southeast pole malfunctioned off, but Village president turned groundsman DeVrae Tankard was quick to the rescue and raced across the field to attend to the control panel on the same pole to bring the lights back on.

Village capitalised on the one-man advantage and nearly doubled their lead midway through the second half when Outerbridge’s cross was met by Dill, who executed a toe-poke shot, bringing a reflex save out of Hill, who pushed the ball over the top.

With time ticking down, Town made one last effort to find an equaliser when centre half Yeferson Ramirez ventured forward and got on the end of a free kick with a powerful header, but the ball was inches wide to the relief of Village players and supporters.

SCORER

North Village: J Outerbridge 43

TEAMS

Dandy Town (4-2-3-1): J Hill 6 — T Webb 6, Y Ramirez 6, D Leverock 6, L Simmons 5 (sub Z Smith, 86min) — E Blankendal 6, E Moore 5 — R Robinson 6, T Goater 5, J Furbert 6 — D Jones 6. Substitutes not used: S Smith, E Peets, M Joell, T Smith, O Wilson, A Harvey. Booked: Ramirez, Simmons. Sent off: Goater.

North Village Rams (4-2-3-1): D Bell 7 — Q Outerbridge 5, R Sampson 6, T Fray 6, K Harrison 5 (sub: K Knights, 74) — T Williams 6, S Spence 6 — A Dill 6, K Scott 6 (sub: T Tucker 70, 5), J Outerbridge 6 (sub: K Cann, 80) — J Smith 6. Substitutes not used: P Smith, Jabari Hayward, Jabri Hayward.

Referee: A Francis.