Paget 1 St George’s 1

St George’s captain Jarazinho Bassett came up clutch with a late header to secure a point against ten-man Paget at White Hill Field yesterday.

Bassett, whose goal cancelled out a first-half Diaje Hart penalty for Paget, was pleased with their fighting spirit.

“We knew this would be a tough game,” Bassett said. “We fought hard and did our collective jobs. We take every game as it comes and we praise the positives and work on the negatives.”

The away side enjoyed a man advantage for almost half an hour at the end of the match after young Paget winger Xave Smith was given his marching orders after using foul and abusive language toward referee Anthony Francis when disagreeing with a call.

Both sides started the match aggressively, with St George’s creating the first clear opening inside five minutes. Nasaje Anderson, Jahkai Brangman, Cavon Ottley and Jahron Dickinson were all involved, with the latter missing from the edge of the box.

Paget found their groove and midfielder Toby Gibbons slipped in Diaje Hart. The Lions captain took one touch and struck powerfully from the left side of the box, but St George’s keeper Leo Harris was equal to it and tipped it onto the near post.

Xave Smith had his most impactful moment on the game two minutes later, skipping past Jordan Darrell before firing just over the bar from the left edge of the penalty area.

The home side started to seize control for about a ten-minute period, with Elliot Proctor beating Rees Young before clipping to the back post, but striker Antinori Butterfield failed to time his jump correctly and headed wide.

St George’s picked their game up and created two clear chances midway through the first half. First, Brangman failed to get an effort on target from the edge of the box, before their most sweeping move of the period. Mitchell Tucker won the ball and played inside for Bassett, who slipped in Dickinson, but the forward just missed the far post from a very tight angle.

Kyjah Simons then whipped a good ball in from the left but Butterfield failed to connect near the penalty spot for his second great chance of the half.

Just before half time, Proctor produced the critical pass that led to the breakthrough for Paget. The full back played a slide-rule pass into Hart, who got to the ball a second quicker than St George’s legend David Signor. The wily centre back clipped him and referee Francis rightly pointed to the spot. Hart dusted himself off and converted to give the home side the lead.

The second half was far more open than the first as both clubs took risks with their defensive lines. Young midfielder Ottley and the evergreen Anderson were involved heavily on the left side when the visitors held possession, which increased after Smith was sent off.

Paget still held firm and had a few openings on the counter-attack, with both Shakir Smith and son Xion testing Burgess in the final quarter of the contest.

St George’s coach Mishael Paynter came on in the final 15 minutes and gave the side some much needed direction, and that helped them in the build-up to their equaliser. Dickinson whipped a free kick from the left side of the box and Bassett peeled away from the Paget defence and powered in from point-blank range.

Paget fought hard to regain their lead, but a combination of a solid back line and Harris saves secured solid point for St George’s.

Goals

Paget: Hart 44 pen

St George’s: Bassett 80

TEAMS

Paget Lions: O Deshields, D Hart, Xave Smith, M Burch, K Simons, S Smith, E Proctor, T Gibbons, N Carpenter, J Carpenter, A Butterfield. Substitutes: K Leverock, Xion Smith, D Dill, K Richardson, K Hypolite, N Armstrong. Sent off: Xave Smith.

St George’s: L Harris, J Bassett, R Young, M Tucker, D Signor, Z Richardson, C Ottley, N Anderson, J Dickinson, J Darrell, J Brangman. Substitutes: C Neal, M Paynter, N Paynter, J Carlington.

Referee: A Francis