St George’s 3 Boulevard 0

St George’s scored three late goals to see off a stubborn Boulevard side at Wellington Oval for their first league victory of the season.

The East End started with the early momentum and should have opened the scoring inside five minutes when Liam Evans played forward for Blaiz Hall, who flicked neatly for Isai Gibbons to shoot. However, Gibbons sliced his effort well wide.

Blazers fought back with their first opportunity of the game four minutes later, when Keedai Astwood clipped a beautiful ball into the path of Shaquille Dill, who missed his touch. St George's failed to clear the loose ball and Doreiko Walker should have hit the target, but dragged his effort wide of the far post.

St George's continued to show attacking intent, but still could not break through when Jahron Dickinson fed an intricate ball through to Blaiz Hall. His shot was arrowing into the bottom corner. However, Blazers keeper DeAz Chambers made a reflex save.

The home side controlled the first half for large periods with probing possession, but Blazers stood firm and had their own threats on the counter attack. Kyah Blyden was fed into space for their next opportunity, but he sliced his effort.

St George’s had the final clear opportunity before the break, when Evans was picked out in acres of space about 25 yards out by Jarazinho Bassett. The former North Village midfielder struck a powerful low drive toward the near corner, but Chambers comfortably tipped it around his post.

The second half took the same pattern as the first, but Blazers lost their potency on the break thanks to more aggressive St George’s pressure. This allowed the home side to dictate proceedings from a more favourable position and force the away side into numerous mistakes.

Despite their most sustained period of control and attacking momentum, St George's were too wasteful with their final pass or decision, thus keeping Blazers in with a chance.

Blaiz Hall was at the centre of their best moments in the third quarter of the game. He picked out Gibbons in space on the left and he clipped a ball to the back post, but Bassett headed over the bar just after the hour.

St George’s finally opened the scoring 15 minutes from time, with Nzari Paynter feeding a ball for Blaiz Hall to run onto and then square for Bassett to control and score into an unguarded net.

That opener caused the Blazers team to drop their heads and the home side doubled their lead from a poor piece of judgment by Chambers. His defender, Ijahmon Mallory played a firm pass back to him, and he took too long to decide his next move. Dickinson pounced and squared for Liam Evans to scuff his effort into the empty net.

Blaiz Hall would get the goal his adventure and attacking dynamism deserved five minutes from time, extinguishing any hopes of a Blazers comeback. Substitute Zachary McGuire showed great determination to beat his marker Antoine Famous and his cross found Evans, who laid off for Hall to fire past Chambers.

SCORERS

St George’s: Bassett 75, Evans 78, B Hall 85

TEAMS

St George’s (4-2-3-1): T Hall Jr 6 ― J Darrell 5 (sub: R Phipps, 58min 5; sub I Greaves, 81), N Paynter 6, J Schroder 6, J Bassett 7 ― L Evans 7, C Neal 6 ― B Hall 7, K Hall 6, I Gibbons 5 (sub: Z McGuire, 74) ― J Dickinson 6. Substitutes not used: W Broadley, R Richards. Booked: Phipps.

Boulevard (4-2-3-1): D Chambers 4 - J Headlaw 5 (sub: A Famous 79), D Cox 5 (sub: K Butterfield 45 5), I Mallory 6, K Astwood 6 - N Smith 5, E Trott 5 - K Blyden 6 (sub: I Coke 72), J Talbot-Thomas 6, D Walker 5 (sub: Z Symonds 72) ― S Dill 5. Substitutes not used: Y Darrell, D Lottimore, C Thompson. Booked: N Smith, Talbot-Thomas, Butterfield, Coke.

Referee: D Jackson.