N.Village 2 Dev. Colts 1

Individual errors proved costly for Devonshire Colts as they crashed to defeat at the hands of North Village in Premier Division soccer yesterday.

At 1-1, Colts had looked like they would grab a share of the spoils at Bernard Park until they had Michael Bean sent off.

The Red Devils, who had gone ahead through Randy Spence only to be dragged back to level terms by a Shannon Burgess penalty, capitalised on their numerical advantage when Jamaul Boyles scored his second goal in two weeks.

Spence's strike came as a the result of a horrendous clearance by Aljame Zuill in the 10th minute.

The striker spooned an attempted hoof upfield straight into the path of the North Village man and he fired low and hard past Andre Hendrickson from the edge of the area.

But although they were a goal up Village, who lost striker Dwight Warren to injury as early as the third minute, found it hard to kill off Colts and they were made to pay when `keeper Zane Hendrickson brought down Lloyd Holder in the area and Bermuda international Burgess made no mistake from the spot.

Just as it looked like a point would have to do, Bean's rash challenge on substitute Jawan Thomas gave Village the incentive they needed.

Colts' keeper Hendrickson was caught in two minds when rushed by Village attackers and he was only able to clear the ball as far as the incoming Boyles who rifled it into the top corner.

The winner was a little harsh on Colts who had matched Village for much of the game and had plenty of opportunities of their own, not least when an unmarked Zuill headed goalwards from a corner only to see the ball cleared off the line by Kimandi Binns.

Burgess believed the second-half dismissal of Bean had helped speed his side's demise. "We really sunk a bit after the sending off," he said. "Up to then we matched them fairly well, apart from once or twice when they beat the offside trap.

"But to play with 10 men after we had given our all for 70-odd minutes was a dagger (blow)."

Burgess agreed that his side had shot themselves in the foot all afternoon. "The goals that they scored we gave to them," he said. "Aljame made a bad pass, Andre mistimed the guy running into him. That's football and it's unfortunate, but at the end of the day we have a lot of games to play and we can't let this result get us down."

Village boss Scott Morton, believed his side would have won the game whether Bean had received his marching orders or not.

"I don't think it had anything to do with our victory. Basically, I just think we dug deeper and wanted it more," he said. "Our play was not up to par, both teams played like rubbish to me. But it just showed we wanted it more."

Last week Village played badly and beat the Devonshire Cougars in their opening league encounter. It was a case of deja vu yesterday. "The most positive thing I can pick out of our victories is that we have won," he said. "It is nothing to do with our play. We haven't played up to par in any one of our games. But the main thing is that we are winning and I can give thanks for that."

North Village: Z.Hendrickson, S.Deshields (J.Thomas, 70 mins), K.Binns, M.Hansey, K.Jennings, J.Boyles, T.Jennings, T.Outerbridge, D.Warren (K.Dill, 3 mins), J.Davis, R.Spence (V.Tankard, 45 mins).

Devonshire Colts: A.Hendrickson, S.Burgess, M.Bean, R.Evans (G.Gibbons, 38 mins), D.Zuill, J.Belboda, J.Bean (L.Holder, 56 mins), C.Hill (J.Dill, 76 mins), A.Zuill, Q.Aberdeen.

Yellow cards: J.Davis, S.Deshields, T.Jennings (Village); J.Belboda (Colts)

Red card: M.Bean (Colts), two bookable offences.

Men of the match: K.Binns (Village); S.Burgess (Colts)

Referee: S.Crockwell.