Dandy Town 1 Paget 2

Paget Lions veteran Shakir Smith kept his cool from the spot to hand Dandy Town their first league defeat of the season at PHC Field on Sunday.

Smith was clever to induce a slight pull from Town defender Edry Moore just inside the box and picked himself up to fire the resulting penalty straight down the middle with power about ten minutes into the second half.

That followed Julian Carpenter’s 53rd minute equaliser after Town captain Tomiko Goater had given the Premier Division champions the lead in the 47th minute.

Paget captain Diaje Hart was pleased with the mentality of his team.

“Every match is tough,” Hart said. “We showed our regular grit to get the result and we have to give credit to Shakir for leading us into every game. He already has seven goals at 39 years old.

“Coach Antwan Russell set us up to defend first and then move forward. We didn’t concede any silly goals and that is a big reason why we got the three points.”

Town struggled to penetrate the Paget midfield with the Lions set up in a compact mid-block to force Town into utilising the wings. However, their quality was lacking and they did not have the focal point of last season’s top scorer David Jones to deliver crosses.

The lack of striker presence forced Town to use intricate passing to break down a resolute Paget defence, who were perfectly content to see the champions play in front of them for the most part in the first half.

Whenever Town did play the ball in behind, the final pass by either Jahkari Furbert or Zac Hannay often missed the mark, with Paget able to snuff any forward advances comfortably.

Town defender Yeferson Ramirez played the most significant pass of the first half, with Hannay latching onto it before his driven effort blocked for a corner.

Town came out from the break with a more attacking and scored within a few minutes of the restart. Furbert whipped a corner into the box and Goater got the telling touch to give them the lead.

Paget responded to level the game just five minutes later from another set piece on the left side, when Julian Carpenter got his head to the ball in a goalmouth scramble to equalise.

Lions continued to show character in their attempts to turn a point into the maximum three and Town started to open up to allow them to play.

Smith proved the crucial factor as the game became stretched, winning the penalty after a long pass forward by Rakeem Deshields. Smith held his body into Moore, who held his shirt long enough for referee Amaury Majors to point to the spot. Smith dusted himself off to complete the comeback.

Town needed to go behind for their attacking prowess to flourish and they had enough openings in the final half-hour to at least snatch a point. Furbert pulled a ball back from the left that Goater struck into a few Paget defenders, while Edry Moore glanced a header wide from a corner minutes later. Goater missed their clearest opening from near the penalty spot as the clock edged into the final minutes, firing wide.

Lions themselves had the odd opening on the counter attack, but they did not have the killer touch to put the game to bed with a third goal.

Scorers

Dandy Town: Goater 47

Paget: J Carpenter 53, Smith 57 pen

Teams

Dandy Town: J Hill, T Goater, R Robinson, E Swan, J Robinson, E Moore, Q Maynard, Y Ramirez, Z Hannay, J Furbert, D Daniels. Substitutes: J Manders, Z Smith, S Smith, L Simmons, E Blankendal, M Joell, T Gibbons.

Paget Lions: J Morrissey, D Hart, M Wade, Xion Smith, K Leverock, N Carpenter, A Lee, J Carpenter, R Deshields, K Simons, S Smith. Substitutes: K Richardson, D Joell, S Bean, K Hypolite.

Referee: A Majors.