Boulevard Blazers 1 North Village 5

Defending champions North Village Rams remain in the title race with a convincing 5-1 win over bottom placed Boulevard Blazers at Devonshire Rec last night. With the win, coach Calvin Dill Jr is not ready to relinquish the league title as yet and has asked his players to give it their all until the end of the season.

“This was a good win tonight,” stated coach Dill. “We played the way we wanted to play and done the job to keep ourselves in the title race. We knew we had to get to them early as we all know Boulevard is a fighting team that fight until the end. I thought we stayed composed and was clinical around goal. I hope we continue to play like this and give it our all until the last game”.

Village executed their game plan to fruition as they scored early when the Blazers failed to clear the ball in their defensive third, which allowed Knory Scott to slip a pass to Jonte Smith who picked his spot before side-footing beyond the stranded Antione Famous in the Boulevard goal.

Before the dust could settle, Village doubled their lead when Jai Bean was given room inside the box to fire past Famous from an angle as the Blazers were caught napping again.

In the 16th minute of play, Bean scored his second and the team’s third after running onto a weighted through-ball by Amir Dill to beat the advancing Blazers’ custodian and slot into the bottom right corner.

A spirited Boulevard outfit tried desperately to fight their way back into the match and reduced the deficit by one with a classic finish just before the half. Striker Khya Blyden muscled the ball away from centre-back Quinn Outerbridge and dribbled before unleashing a thunderous shot from 25 yards, which nestled in the top right corner of Village captain and goalkeeper Detre Bell’s net, leaving him looking stunned.

Blazers’ goalkeeper Famous was brought into action early in the second half as he dove full-length to push Jordan Outerbridge’s firm drive around the post, but his efforts were in vain as Village scored from the resulting corner kick. Dill’s cross was met by Jonte Smith, whose downward header struck the knee of defender Nazarie Daley before spinning into the back of the net to give Village a comfortable three-goal cushion.

The Blazers had golden opportunities to score when Blyden was in a good position, but flicked a low drive from Darius Cox wide followed by a spectacular save from Bell diving full-length to push Jah Zion Talbot-Thomas’s piledriver around the post.

Substitute Pierre Smith closed out the scoring for Village with his first touch after being on the pitch for only a few seconds; he was left unmarked to get onto the end of a low cross to side-foot past a flat-footed Famous.

SCORERS

Boulevard: Blyden 36

North Village: J Smith 4, Bean 5, 16, Daley 49 (o.g.), P Smith 83

TEAMS

Boulevard Blazers (4-2-3-1): A Famous 6 — K Astwood 6, E Trott 6, D Cox 6, J Walker 5 (sub: I Mallory 82) — N Smith 5, Y Darrell 5 (sub: N Daley 24 5)— J Talbot-Thomas 6, K Swan 5 (sub: T Gibbons 47 5), D Walker 5 (Sub: T Lowe 82) — K Blyden 7 (sub: C Summers 82). Substitutes not used: Z Stovell, I Coke. Booked: Nil.

NVCC Rams (4-2-3-1): D Bell 6 — K Knights 6, Q Outerbridge 5, T Fray 6 (sub: K Cann 76) K Harrison 6 — S Spence 6 (sub: Jabari Hayward, K Scott 7 — A Dill 6 (sub: P Smith 82), J Bean 7, J Outerbridge 6 (sub: C Caisey 68 5) — J Smith 7 (sub: T Tucker 82). Substitute not used: Jabri Hayward. Booked: Nil.

Referee: Jamar Springer (Barbados)