Devonshire Colts 1 Paget 0

Devonshire Colts moved back to the top of the Premier Division with a narrow victory over Paget Lions at Police Field on Saturday.

Jahzardae Samuels scored what turned out to be the winning goal in the fifth minute and Colts now top the division on goals scored over Dandy Town, with the teams sharing the same goal difference. Both teams can be usurped by the end of the weekend if PHC beat Young Men’s Social Club on Sunday.

Despite leading the standings, Devonshire Colts coach Ray Jones was far from pleased with their overall performance.

“We will take the points and move on,” he said. “The most important thing is the win at this stage of the season.

“We started well but we have to figure out why we lose control and address the issue.”

This is a busy week for title-chasing Colts, who will play a rescheduled match with St George’s on Wednesday night at PHC Field (9pm).

“We have time before our next match and we will make some adjustments in a session before then,” Jones said.

The opening whistle was delayed by 30 minutes as a result of the late arrival of assistant referee Dwight Jackson but the delay did not seem to affect Colts, who opened the scoring inside five minutes.

Zuhri Burgess clipped a beautiful ball to the back post for Samuels to power his header past Paget keeper Shaquille Bean from six yards out.

Colts continued to control the early tempo but Paget stood firm defensively with Rakeem Deshields impressive on his return from injury. The away side started to find some momentum in attack midway through the first half and could have equalised from their first dangerous set-piece.

Delray Rawlins drove a free kick from distance through a crowd of Colts defenders and home goalkeeper Jaden Mills-Furbert spilt the ball before Paget striker Antinori Butterfield side-footed the rebound wide under pressure.

Paget gained confidence from that and Colts became sloppy with their passing, with both sides lacking conviction in the final third. Colts created their best opportunity to double the lead when Senoj Mitchell drove to the byline and cut back for Sage Blair-Paynter, who laid off for Samuels but the midfielder had his effort blocked by Deshields.

Paget had two great chances to draw level just before half time. The first came in transition after Tristen Davis clipped over the top for Butterfield before Mills-Furbert made a mistake coming out to sweep up. Butterfield pounced on the mistake but fired wide again, this time from about 15 yards.

Both sides had their chances in a scrappy but open second half. Butterfield forced Mills-Furbert into his most difficult save within five minutes of the restart, when his powerful low effort was kept out by strong reflexes from the Colts keeper.

Paget captain Diaje Hart then hit the crossbar with a trademark whipped free kick from about 22 yards just before the hour.

Colts responded less than ten minutes later with Elisha Darrell forcing Bean into a smart save low to his near post after Samuels picked him out in space in the left channel.

Both sides made changes as the game became even more stretched in the final minutes. Rawlins should have levelled the contest after Nelson Carpenter played a beautiful ball in behind the Colts defence, but he dragged his low effort wide.

Samuels played a key role in the positive moments Colts showed in attack and he spread the ball to substitute Keino Burch on the right, but the winger took too many touches and Rakeem Deshields blocked his effort with two minutes remaining.

SCORERS

Devonshire Colts: Samuels 5

TEAMS

Devonshire Colts (4-2-3-1): J Mills-Furbert 6 — D Ball 7 (sub: R Whitter, 80 min), S Burgess 6, J Dublin 7, J Paynter 6 (sub: S Robinson, 59 5) — Z Burgess 5, J Samuels 7 — C Henry 5, S Blair-Paynter 5 (sub: M Isaac, 59 5), S Mitchell 6 — E Darrell 5 (sub: K Burch, 74). Substitutes not used: J Saunders, D Davis. Booked: Mills-Furbert, S Burgess.

Paget Lions (4-2-3-1): S Bean 6 — K Knights 6, R Deshields 7, D Rawlins 6, N Carpenter 5 — A Lee 6, T Davis 6 (sub: K Leverock, 66 5) — Xave Smith 5, D Hart 6, K Richardson 6 — A Butterfield 5 (sub: Xion Smith, 66 5). Substitutes not used: D Stovell; O Deshields; Booked: Bean, Rawlins.

Referee: A Francis