North Village 3 Dandy Town 1

North Village claimed the first piece of silverware of the season after upstaging holders Dandy Town in an entertaining Charity Cup clash at Bernard Park on Sunday night.

Sincere Hall broke the deadlock with a sensational finish to earn Rams a 1-0 advantage in the first half before Blaiz Hall scored on his club debut for Town to bring the teams level after the restart.

Village regained the lead through a Nizigh Spence own goal before substitute Owen Botelho added a third to put the game beyond the reach of the league champions.

The home side also had a penalty saved and struck the woodwork in a match they thoroughly deserved to win given the amount of possession they dominated and chances they created.

Village coach Cal “Patches” Dill was pleased to see his team reap reward for the hard work they have put into preseason training.

“Overall we’re happy and the coaching staff is happy with what we saw because this is the work we have been putting in all summer,” he told The Royal Gazette.

“I thought we dominated the first half but in the second half we started off slowly and allowed them to get back into the game. Overall I thought we kept our composure and stuck to the game plan.

“I want to thank the guys that have come into the team. Even though most of them have come up through the ranks at North Village they are like new signings for us.”

It was virtually one-way traffic in the first half as Rams dominated possession with Z’Dao Dill, Jai Bean and club debutant Kashe Hall all testing Town goalkeeper Jahquil Hill, who made a string of saves.

Town coach Jarraeu Hayward was forced to make an unscheduled change when defender Azendae Furbert was injured in a tackle and replaced.

Things then went from bad to worse for the visitors as Hall finally broke their resistance after exchanging passes with Bean, turning his marker sharply in the box and rifling the ball into the top corner.

Town nearly equalised before the break when Blaiz Hall had a shot partially saved by Rams goalkeeper Detre Bell, while David Jones Jr’s attempt on the rebound was blocked by a defender.

Hornets regrouped at the half and piled on the pressure in search of an equaliser when play restarted.

Their unrelenting pressure finally paid off when Blaiz Hall latched onto a partial clearance on the left side of the box and smashed the ball into the far top corner of the net to bring them level.

However, all of Town’s hard work came undone when Spence nodded Rams substitute Amir Dill’s corner into his own net to restore the home side’s one-goal advantage.

Rams had a golden opportunity to put the match to bed when they were awarded a late penalty after Z’Dao Dill was brought down in the area, but Hill made a fantastic diving save to his left to deny Bean from 12-yards.

Town substitute Demetre Daniels had a goal waved off by the assistant referee, while at the other end Kashe Hall brought off another save from Hill as the game opened up in the final minutes.

Blaiz Hall also had an effort saved after Rams lost possession in their own box.

Rams went agonisingly close again when substitute Remy Coddington’s curling free kick from outside the box crashed onto the woodwork.

Hornets suffered another setback when central defender Yeferson Ramirez injured his right leg and was replaced before Rams substitute Botelho pounced in second-half stoppage time to seal the deal and avenge his team’s 2-1 loss to their opponents in last year’s season opener at the same ground.

Despite the defeat, Town coach Hayward retains confidence in his players.

“We are where we are right now and that’s OK,” he said.

“It’s early days so we are not too worried about it. We have a lot of things that we have to work on, so we will work on them.

“We have a lot of players missing due to personal reasons, work and all of that, so we will be all right.

“We will make the necessary adjustments and we saw exactly what we need to do tonight so we will be OK. It’s a good lesson for us and congratulations to Village.”

Scorers

North Village: S Hall 22, Spence og 72, Botelho 90+2

Dandy Town: B Hall 52

North Village: D Bell, J Bean, S Hall, K Hall, C Caisey, J Chapman, J Outerbridge, L Steede, K Scott, Z Dill, J Smith-DeShields. Substitutes: R Coddington, M Paynter, T Tucker, J Hayward, S Spence, A Dill, O Botelho, K Knights, J Harvey

Dandy Town: J Hill, Y Ramirez, E Swan, D Jones Jr, N Spence, L Simmons, A Furbert, B Hall, Z Hannay, M Joell, M Trott. Substitutes: A Harvey, E Outerbridge, E Moore, D Daniels, T Smith, A Bailey, J RoserT Gibbons.

Referee: A Majors