St George’s 2 Devonshire Colts 1

St George’s came from behind to edge Devonshire Colts in their final Dudley Eve group match at Bernard Park last night.

Elisha Darrell put Colts in front before St George’s hit back through goals from Jarazinho Bassett and Jahron Dickinson.

The East Enders top group C with four points and await the outcome of the remaining group match between X Roads and Devonshire Colts on Saturday, which will determine who advance to the knockout stage.

Colts will need to win that game if they are to stand a chance of progressing as the best runner-up in the three groups.

Ray Jones’s team dominated the early exchanges and created the first real chance of the match when Chemarl Henry found himself in space inside the box, but with only St George’s goalkeeper Troy Hall Jr standing in his way, the forward blasted his effort over.

St George's gradually got a foothold in the match and went close with Dickinson having two efforts saved after Devonshire Colts were exposed at the back. With Colts goalkeeper Jahniko Francis stranded outside his box, the striker chipped the ball towards the empty net, but was denied as Francis made a last-ditch save with his legs after making up lost ground.

Francis then dived full length to thwart Dickinson again after he got on the end of Blaiz Hall’s short pass in the area.

Colts enjoyed another good spell of possession towards the end of the half and were awarded a penalty after Darrell went down under a challenge in the box.

Former St George’s player Senoj Mitchell’s spot-kick was easily saved by Hall, who dived to his right to smother the winger’s tame effort.

However, despair quickly turned to joy shortly when Darrell capitalised on sloppy defending to finally make the breakthrough. The striker dispossessed central defender Jonas Schroder on the edge of the box and planted his shot into the near bottom corner.

Devonshire Colts continued to pile on the pressure with Henry, Mitchell and Darrell squandering good opportunities to extend their team's lead.

Those misses came back to haunt them as Bassett brought the teams level with a brilliant solo effort on the stroke of half-time. The full back took possession of a loose ball, dribbled into the box and beat Francis from an angle.

St George's nearly picked up where they left off at the restart with Blaiz Hall dragging a shot wide after Colts were caught short at the back on a counter-attack.

The East Enders kept their foot on the gas and took the lead for good through Dickinson’s sublime finish. The experienced player shook off his marker on the right side of the box and curled a crisp left-footed shot into the far top corner.

It was non-stop, end-to-end action thereafter as the game opened up, but both teams were unable to capitalise on some good possession.

Colts threw everything they had in search of an equaliser in the dying stages of the match, but St George’s held on for the win to keep alive their hopes of progressing from the group.

St George’s captain Kashe Hall was pleased with his team’s effort.

“I thought our performance was better than last week’s and we stayed in the game,” he said. “We stayed compact and stayed smart.

“It’s all about mental. We are not that fit as a team, but mentally we’re strong. That’s what kept us in the game.”

Colts coach Ray Jones blamed his team’s demise on their lack of cutting edge in the final third.

“We had a flurry of chances that we didn’t take advantage of,” he said.

“If you don’t take advantage of your chances, the team hangs around and a little bit of magic gave them something to hang on to in the end.”

SCORERS

St George’s: Bassett 45+1, Dickinson 54

Devonshire Colts: Darrell 40

St George’s (4-1-4-1): T Hall 7 — J Darrell 7 (sub: N Paynter, 63min 7), O Bascome 7, J Schroder 7, J Bassett 7 — L Evans 7 — K Hall 7, M Trott 7, I Gibbons 7, B Hall 7 (K Minors, 90) — J Dickinson 7 (sub: M Simmons, 58 7). Substitutes not used: R Richards, W Broadly, A Heyliger, M Tucker. Booked: Trott, Schroder, Dickinson.

Devonshire Colts (4-1-4-1): J Francis 7 — M Outerbridge 6 (sub: J Paynter, 63 5), M Isaac 6 (sub: T Eve, 75 5), J Burgess 6, S Burgess 6 — Z Burgess 6 — J Commissiong 6, K Burch 6 (sub: S Robinson, 63 6), C Henry 6, S Mitchell 5 (sub: D Ball, 63 6) — E Darrell 7. Substitutes not used: S Paynter, K Crockwell, F Lema. Booked: J Burgess.

Referee: T Simons.