Devonshire Colts 2 North Village 1

Chemarl Henry scored twice as Devonshire Colts came from behind to boost their Premier Division title hopes and simultaneously dent the chances of North Village’s at Police Field on Sunday.

Henry scored in the nineteenth and 59th minute as Colts, who defeated Village 2-1 in the first game of the season at Bernard Park inn September, completed a double over the champions. Jalen Harvey had opened the scoring for Village in the ninth minute.

The loss left Calvin Dill Jr’s side six points off leaders Dandy Town. Colts, who have a game in hand, are a point off top spot.

Henry was elated that his double strike, which took him to six league goals for the season, contributed to a positive outcome for his team.

“Scoring is always a good feeling and I’m just happy that my scoring helped us to get the three points,” Henry told The Royal Gazette.

“Our front three has got pace, so we used that to our advantage. Conditions on the field also worked in our favour and we just had to make sure that we were tidy at the back.

“We’re third now in the standings with a game in hand against Paget Lions, but we’re not banking on that. Hopefully, once we get those points, we will have a gauge of how we will be for the rest of the season.”

With eight matches remaining, Dill backed North Village to turn the corner in their upcoming fixtures.

“It’s disappointing to lose to anybody, but it’s part of the game,” Dill said.

“We still have a chance and let’s just hope we can put it together and bounce back.”

The Village coach felt that the state of the pitch, which became soggy due to heavy rain, contributed to an untidy encounter.

“I thought it was a good game of football,” he said.

“A little bit scrappy because of the field itself, but I thought it was a good game and my view is that they got their goals due to our mistakes.

“We just didn’t put our all into it to come out to try and win it and we have some things that we need to fix as the coaching staff.

“If we can go back and fix those issues, we hope we can go on another run like we did after losing to Colts in the first match of the season.”

Village were the first to get out of the blocks when Harvey bundled the ball home from Jordan Outerbridge's corner kick in the ninh minutes.

Colts equalised ten minutes later with Henry on the end of a pass from captain Jahzardae Samuels. In the 22nd minute, Samuels tested Detre Bell with a snap shot from outside the box, which the Village keeper easily dealt with.

Seven minutes later, Village striker Jonté Smith had a chance to add to his seasonal tally of six goals from an Outerbridge free kick only for his effort to hit the crossbar.

Colts took the lead for the first time in the match halfway through the second half when Henry’s long-range shot was palmed into the goal by Bell.

Smith had a chance for Cillage in the 64th minute after connecting with a perfect cross from Jai Bean but his header was pushed behind for a corner by Jaden Mills-Furbert.

Henry could have had his hat-trick nine minutes before the end, with the winger given plenty of space on the left before getting into a one-on-one with Bell, with the keeper coming out tops.

In stoppage time Harvey came close to equalising for Village but his flashing header from a cross by substitute Justin Sukdeo went agonisingly wide.

SCORERS

Devonshire Colts: Henry 19, 59

North Village: Harvey 9

TEAMS

Devonshire Colts (4-3-3): J Mills-Furbert 6 — D Ball 6, J Dublin 6, S Burgess 6, M Isaac 6 — J Bean-Lindo 6, Z Burgess 6, J Samuels 6 (sub: S Blair-Paynter, 83min) — E Darrell (sub: I Naylor, 90), C Mitchell (sub: D Richardson, 63 5), C Henry 8. Substitutes not used: F Lema, S Robinson, S Tatem, A Van Duyne. Booked: Bean-Lindo, Samuels, S Burgess

North Village (4-2-3-1): D Bell 6 — Q Outerbridge 6, J Harvey 7, K Knights 6, J Outerbridge 6 (sub: J Sukdeo, 86) — S Spence 6, C Easton-Smith 6 (sub: P Smith, 86) — A Dill 6 (sub: J Smith-DeShields, 60), J Bean 6, L Steede-Jackson 6 (sub: T Williams, 86) — J Smith 6. Substitutes not used: A DeShields-Tankard, J Chapman. Booked: J Outerbridge

Referee: M Wyer.