Devonshire Colts 1 Dandy Town 3

Dandy Town extended their unbeaten start to the season with a dominant win over Devonshire Colts at Police Field on Sunday.

Town prevailed through strikes from David Jones Jr, Riley Robinson and Edry Moore. Senoj Mitchell replied for Colts, who squandered gilt-edged chances and also had a penalty saved at a crucial stage of the match.

Town coach Jarreau Hayward was happy to see his team execute the game plan and come away with the points.

“Colts came to play and we had to be ready for it, so I am glad that the team executed the game plan,” he told The Royal Gazette.

Town’s margin of victory should have been wider given the amount of opportunities they squandered and that was a cause of concern for Hayward.

“We have to do better in the final third,” he said.

“We scored three goals today, our highest tally so far, and created other chances so that’s a good thing. We just have to continue to work on finishing, but again we are super early in our process so a long way to go.”

Town came out swinging from the opening kick off with Colts goalkeeper Jaden Mills-Furbert denying Robinson from point-blank range.

Colts’ early resistance was broken in the sixth minute when Jones pounced on some poor defending to break the deadlock. Town captain Tomiko Goater struck the underside of the woodwork and Jones was first to react to the loose ball in the goalmouth, which he smashed into the far top corner.

Robinson doubled the advantage when he ran onto Dantė Leverock’s long ball from his own half, beat his marker, and planted his shot into the right bottom corner.

Mitchell missed a glaring opportunity to halve the deficit for Colts when he headed over an empty net after blocking Town goalkeeper Jahquil Hill’s attempted punt upfield.

Jones had the ball in the net again at the other end but was blown for a foul battling for possession in the box, while team-mate Jaidyn Robinson’s afternoon came to early end after going off with a back strain.

Colts were awarded a penalty after Elisha Darrell went down in the box as he attempted to connect with Zuhri Burgess’s free-kick. Captain Chemarl Henry stepped up to take the kick but had his effort saved by Hill.

These missed opportunities came back to haunt Colts as Moore buried Goater’s corner inside the near post in heavy traffic to make it 3-0.

Robinson went close to grabbing his second of the match when his brilliant effort from outside the box struck the post, while Hill positioned himself well to turn Henry’s shot around the post.

Hornets came charging out of the blocks in search of more goals at the start of the second half, with Jones testing Mills-Furbert from the left side of the box.

Mitchell finally made amends for his earlier miss after getting the faintest of touches to Jomei Lindo-Bean’s free- kick at the back post to pull a goal back for Colts.

Controversy flared when Colts were awarded a penalty after a Town defender handled in the area. Referee Anthony Francis initially pointed to the spot but reversed his decision and awarded a free-kick to the away side instead.

Mills-Furbert then pulled off a brilliant fingertip save to deny Town substitute Jahkari Furbert.

Colts enjoyed a good spell in the latter stages of the match but were unable to capitalise as Town preserved their two-goal advantage to seal the deal.

Colts coach Ray Jones cited errors and poor finishing as the catalyst for his team’s demise.

“I think we let ourselves down and basically gave them three goals; three errors and they capitalised,” he said.

“I think once we put a little pressure on them they were making errors and we didn’t capitalise — and I think that was the difference in the game.

“At the end of the day it’s about taking your chances, and we had too many and didn’t capitalise on them.”

Scorers:

Devonshire Colts: Mitchell 56

Dandy Town: Jones 6, Robinson 17, Moore 32

TEAMS

Devonshire Colts (4-2-3-1): J Mills- Furbert 7 — J Paynter 6, M Isaac 6 (sub: J Jackson, 85min), J Dublin 6, S Robinson 6 — Z Burgess 7, J Lindo-Bean 7 (sub: S Bair-Paynter, 68 6) — D Ball 6 (sub: T Eve, 68 6), E Darrell 6 (sub: S Tatem, 85), C Henry 6 — S Mitchell 6. Substitutes not used: D Davis, A Hart, D Jackson, A Van-Duyne. Booked: Lindo-Bean

Dandy Town (4-1-4-1): J Hill 7 — T Webb 7, Y Ramirez 7, D Leverock 7, L Simmons 7 — Q Maynard 7 — E Moore 7, J Robinson 6 (sub: J Furbert, 28 7), R Robinson 7, T Goater 7 — D Jones Jr 7 (sub: Z Smith, 84), Substitutes not used: J Roser, E Peets, G Liburd. Booked: Simmons, Leverock, Webb

Referee: A Francis.