Dandy Town 4 Paget Lions 1

Dandy Town advanced to the Dudley Eve Trophy final after coming away with a deserved victory over Paget Lions at Devonshire Rec on Wednesday night.

Hornets dominated possession and made the most of their chances against a Paget side that did not help their cause by conceding two own goals, with Marcus Ming and Nelson Carpenter experiencing every defender’s worst nightmare after scoring in their own net to gift Hornets a 2-0 cushion.

Additional strikes from Hornets forward Zachary Hannay and captain Tomiko Goater, who converted from the penalty spot, then put the match beyond Paget’s reach.

Substitute Shakir Smith scored a consolation for Paget after capitalising on a goalkeeping blunder by Town goalkeeper Jaiden Manders.

Jarreau Hayward, the Town coach, was delighted to see his team reach another cup final.

“It’s always good to be in a final so we will see what happens,” he told The Royal Gazette.

“Now we have to rest and recover and worry about North Village in the league on Saturday.”

As for his team’s display, Hayward said: “I think we have to be better, but we did what we had to do.

“First half I thought we were too lethargic. Second half I thought we started to pick it up and scored some nice early goals, so I was very pleased with that. We asked for a reaction at the half and we got one, so can’t be too disappointed.”

Town played the final eight minutes of the match with ten men after central defender Yeferson Ramirez limped off with a suspected calf injury.

“I think he came off as a precaution so we will see exactly what’s happening,” Hayward said.

“He looks to be moving fine now, but we will send him to the physiotherapist and see what happens. It looked to be his calf, but we will see.”

Antwan Russell, the Paget coach, made no excuses for his team’s defeat.

“Tonight the best team won,” he declared.

“We had a good first half and then shot ourselves in the foot; two own goals and just never recovered.

“We just went haywire from there and the best team won.”

Hornets bossed the first half as Paget sat deep and hoped to catch their opponents on the break.

Town full back Lejuan Simmons had the first real chance of the match but blazed his effort over the bar after finding himself in space on the edge of the box.

Lions goalkeeper Shaquille Bean then turned Hannay’s shot from a tight angle around the near post as Hornets kept their foot on the gas.

However, Paget’s resistance was finally broken by themselves after Ming turned in Jahkari Furbert’s corner kick from the resulting set piece.

Goater then had a low shot saved by Bean while centre back Edry Moore’s ambitious effort from just inside of his own half sailed just over the bar as Hornets went in search of more goals.

Paget enjoyed a good spell towards the end of the opening half with Manders rushing off his line to block Xave Smith’s effort before gathering the latter’s dangerous cross during another raid with an unmarked Ajani Lee lurking at the back post.

Paget’s fightback was stopped dead in its tracks when Simmons’ shot was deflected over the line by Carpenter four minutes into the second half.

A composed Hannay made it 3-0 after he took a touch to Furbert’s cross from the left in the box and planted his shot into the right bottom corner.

Lions clawed a goal back after sloppy goalkeeping by Manders left substitute Smith with the simple task of slotting into an empty net.

However, Goater restored Hornets’ three-goal advantage after sending Bean the wrong way from 12 yards after Simmons was floored in the box by Paget substitute Nique Armstrong.

Scorers

Dandy Town: Ming og 32, Carpenter og 49, Hannay 53, Goater 61 pen

Paget Lions: Smith 56

TEAMS

Dandy Town: J Manders, Y Ramirez, L Simmons, T Goater, D Jones Jr, E Moore, Z Hannay, J Furbert, N Spence, E Swan, R Robinson. Substitutes: A Harvey, J Robinson, Q Maynard, T Gibbons, T Manders, A Bailey, D Daniels

Paget Lions: S Bean, R Deshields, A Butterfield, M Ming, X Smith, Xave Smith, K Simons, K Leverock, A Lee, N Carpenter, J Carpenter. Substitutes: N Armstrong, S Smith, K Durrant, K Richardson, D Joell, D Hart, O Deshields

Referee: D Parchment (Jamaica)