Dandy Town 4 Boulevard 1

Dandy Town captain Tomiko Goater scored twice to give his side a vital victory over bottom side Boulevard at White Hill Field on Saturday.

Goater scored in the 36th and 75th minutes after David Jones Jr struck in the eighteenth minute and Enrique Swan scored in the twentieth minute before Keedai Astwood scored late for Blazers.

Town head coach Jarreau Hayward was pleased with the victory, but disappointed with their lack of application in the second half.

“We controlled the first half,” Hayward said. “We went away from our principles in the second half and we have to work on this. The points were the most important thing today and we need to keep pushing for the league.”

The title challengers had the measure of the first half, yet started with a lack of tempo in possession in the early stages. Despite this slow pace, they fashioned the first big chance of the game inside ten minutes.

Striker David Jones Jr, who ran the channels effectively, cut back for Goater to shoot from outside the area but Blazers keeper DeAz Chambers tipped his powerful effort onto the crossbar.

Town broke the game open with two goals in three minutes midway through the first stanza. First, Jones was put through by Swan before opening up his body to curl past a motionless Chambers.

Defender Lejaun Simmons was replaced by Eusebio Blankendal after sustaining an injury immediately after Town opened the scoring.

Town doubled their lead moments after the change was made. Kamali Davis fed Jones into space between the lines before he slipped in Swan to beat the offside trap to finish underneath Chambers.

Blazers struggled as Town ramped up the pace of their passing, although the home side were pushing their full backs high and leaving spaces in behind. This led to Blazers’ first chance when Jayshun Walker slipped his brother Doreiko into space on the right. He cut back for the trailing run of Nico Smith, who lashed his effort high.

Goater scored his first goal nine minutes before half time when he came inside and struck from the edge of the area, his effort taking a wicked deflection off Jayshun Walker.

Town started the second half as they concluded the first, when Jones showed quick feet and was taken down inside the penalty area by Ijahmon Mallory. However, he tamely placed his penalty straight at Chambers.

Blazers grew into the game as Town struggled to maintain control and created a big chance just before the hour.

Kyah Blyden did well to keep his balance and switch the play for substitute Jah Zion Talbot-Thomas, who slipped in Smith. However, the all-action midfielder had his effort blocked and cleared by Edry Moore.

Angelo Simmons, who came on after the missed penalty, should have made it four on the counter attack as the game opened up, but Chambers made himself big to make a reflex save despite Treazi Gibbons sprinting back to put the veteran forward off balance.

Goater put away his second of the game 15 minutes from time after Riley Robinson was clipped on the edge of the box by Antoine Famous. He whipped the resulting free kick around a disjointed Blazers wall into the far corner past Chambers.

Nine minutes from time Blazers scored a consolation with Talbot-Thomas switching the play for the adventurous Keedai Astwood, who controlled and finished via a wicked deflection underneath Town keeper Jahquil Hill.

SCORERS

Dandy Town: Jones 18, Swan 20, Goater 36, 75

Boulevard: Astwood 81

TEAMS

Dandy Town (4-2-3-1): J Hill 6 — L Outerbridge 7, E Moore 6, D Leverock 7, L Simmons 3 (sub: E Blankendal, 18min 6) — D Daniels 6 (sub: Y Ramirez, 72), N Spence 6 (sub: R Robinson, 72) — E Swan 8, T Goater 8, K Davis 5 (sub: A Simmons, 52 6) — D Jones 6; Substitutes not used: J Roser, J Furbert, J Johnson

Boulevard Blazers (4-1-4-1): D Chambers 7 — K Astwood 6, A Famous 6, I Mallory 5, J Walker 5 — N Smith 6 — T Lowe 5 (sub: J Talbot-Thomas, 55 6), E Trott 6, T Gibbons 5, D Walker 6 — K Blyden 5 (sub: N Dailey, 65 5); Substitutes not used: Y Darrell, K Butterfield

Referee: D Parchment (Jamaica)