St George’s 1 Dandy Town 3

Defending Premier Division champions Dandy Town moved back into first place after an underwhelming win over St George’s Colts at Wellington Oval.

A pair of early first-half own goals, one each from Jelani Carlington and Nasaje Anderson, seemed to set the Hornets on their way, but after a brilliant first quarter of play, the visitors fell flat and were fortunate not to have conceded more than one goal.

Winning coach Jarreau Hayward admitted as much, describing the display as “ugly football, with a beautiful result”.

“It wasn't good enough out there today,” said Hayward, whose team moved to 3-0-0 on the season, level with North Village, but with a far superior goal difference. “There are no excuses; the standard has to be better, so we'll go back to the drawing board.

“I think it was a good lesson; three points is the main thing, but the performance definitely wasn't good.

“I'm trying to tell these guys, ‘You are what you repeatedly do. If you're good one day and you're OK another day, then that makes you inconsistent.’

“So, we're just working on keeping our level and keeping our standards. Because we know every team will play their game against Town. We learnt that last year.

“So we absolutely have to be better, and we will be.”

From the outset, St George’s looked like a team in disarray, with only 12 players dressed to start the match, forcing coach Mishael Paynter to field a makeshift line-up, one that inexplicably featured two players wearing No 13.

This proved debilitating early on as Town pressed, forcing the home team into a constant back-pedal, resulting in four corners in 12 minutes, the last of which produced the first goal.

Tomiko Goater curled a right-footed cross into the penalty area, which Nizigh Spence turned towards goal and deflected off Jelani Carlington's body past goalkeeper Leo Harris.

As if one self-inflicted wound was not enough, it recurred 11 minutes later when defender Anderson miscued an attempted clearance, slicing the ball off his instep over the head of Harris, who had advanced well forward.

However, just as the floodgates seemed set to open, St George’s morale was boosted as Town’s defence made a mess of their own at the 32-minute mark.

A swift right-side counter-attack panicked the Town defence into a woeful clearance, and the ball landed at Dickinson's feet just outside the six-yard box. He gratefully accepted the gift, blasting a low drive that seared past a bevy of legs and feet into the low-right corner.

The goal inspired St George’s, who should have drawn level a minute later, but referee Tomothy Derry thwarted them.

Captain Jarazinho Bassett burst through the middle on a breakaway move, eluding Hill’s initial challenge and shaping himself to tap home the equaliser.

However, rather than signal a penalty and a likely ejection, Derry let play continue, erasing the opportunity.

Town took full advantage of St George’s misfortune, as Antonio Bailey, David Jones Jr and Goater produced the day’s best attacking foray a minute before the break.

Bailey started the move midway up the pitch, just inside the right touchline, darting past his marker before sending an inch-perfect pass to Jones, lurking near the penalty spot. With a man at his back, Jones played a perfect wall pass to an advancing Goater, who buried a one-time effort past an exposed Harris.

If Town thought they might further press their advantage after the break, they were sadly mistaken, as the late arrival and introduction of brothers Ernest and David Signor strengthened St George’s.

Signor should have scored in the 60th minute, after a Hill parry served up a chance on a platter, the ball landing at his feet three yards out. But with the goal beckoning, the former national team player found a way to miss.

Five minutes later, Dickinson squandered his chance when his shot, from a perfect feed from Tucker, smashed off the crossbar.

Post-match, Bassett praised his squad's resilience against the champions, while ruing two early lapses in concentration that allowed severe damage.

“What hurt us today were slight lapses in concentration,” said Bassett. “After those two lapses in concentration, for a large part of the game, we controlled it.

“For our first goal we worked hard, and got the reward for our hard work.

And for the second half, I feel like we should have put our chances away. We had some guilt-edged chances. I had a chance that I should have put away, but it was due to miscommunication and colliding with players.

“It should have been better for us today, but I’m taking away the positives.

“We’ve had to make a lot of changes this year. Our coaches have changed. A lot of personnel have changed, but we’re persevering and progressing, and the results should come … it’s a long season ahead.”

The result leaves St George’s in seventh place, ahead of Somerset, Young Men’s Social Club and X-Roads, all of whom lost.

SCORERS

St George’s Colts: Dickinson 32

Dandy Town: Carlington og 12, Anderson og 23, Goater 44.

TEAMS

St George’s: L Harris, J Bassett, N Anderson, I Greaves, J Smith, J Carlington, Z Richardson, N Paynter, C Ottley, D Lodge, J Dickinson. Substitutes: M Tucker, D Signor, C Neal, J DuBoulay, E Signor.

Dandy Town: J Hill, Y Ramirez, N Spence, T Goater, D Jones, J Robinson, E Outerbridge, E Moore, Z Hannay, Q Maynard, A Bailey. Substitutes: J Manders, E Swan, T Gibbons, S Smith, L Simmons, D Daniels, Z Smith.

Referee: T Derry (Trinidad & Tobago)