Somerset Eagles 0 North Village 3

Reigning league champions North Village rebounded from a series of poor performances to easily capture maximum points and move up from sixth to fifth in the Premier Division at White Hill Field yesterday.

On a day when defeat could have plunged Village into the thick of the relegation battle, coach Scott Morton had to be pleased with the points if not entirely satisfied with the level of play which lacked consistency against a lacklustre Eagles team.

With a strong wind at their back, Village grabbed the initiative after a slow start and built a 2-0 lead by the interval with a Ralph Bean strike and an own goal by Desmond Burgess.

The first 15 minutes, however, wasn't pretty as neither attack looked capable of penetrating.

In a move that clearly showed frustration over his team's failure up front, skipper and centre back Kentoine Jennings got the ball rolling for Village after 21 minutes when his desperation shot from 28 yards sailed just wide of the upright.

Inspired by his effort, Village launched another fierce attack two minutes later and this time Vernon Tankard crossed from the left for Bean to fire home on the half volley.

Eagles, struggling against the wind, looked depressingly inept when they managed to launch an attack. But they did come close when Rodre Wilson hammered a ball off the legs off goalkeeper Zane Hendrickson after 25 minutes from 15 yards.

Village, however, stormed back and got a deserved second goal when Jemeiko Jennings' free kick from 16 yards went into the net off centreback Desmond Burgess.

Jennings came close to putting them ahead 3-0 two minutes later but this time a similar free kick crashed off the bar before being cleared.

Eagles should have scored just before the half but Sean Dill blew his chance when he put a cross from Jelani Butterfield over from just a couple of yards out.

Trailing 2-0 after the break, it was now up to Eagles to see whether they could take advantage of the wind but as in the first half they failed to trouble the Village defence.

Village, with skipper Jennings and Michael Hansey marshalling their backline, gave little away and it wasn't a surprise after 72 minutes when the Reds took a decisive 3-0 lead. Substitute Dwight Warren and Ralph Bean combined and a shot from the latter rebounded off goalkeeper Adrian Burrows for Kaiwon Dill to head home from close range.

Somerset Eagles: A.Burrows; K.Simmons, D.Burgess, S.Simmons, A.Lambert (J.Tucker, 75 mins); S.Dill (D.Dowling, 68 mins), J.Butterfield, T.Smith; D.Woolridge, N.Smith, R.Wilson (D.Binns, 45 mins). Subs not used: I.Raynor, L.Woods.

North Village: Z.Hendrickson; D.Thomas (D.Warren, 27 mins), Kent.Jennings, M.Hansey, L.Alexander (Kev. Jennings, 45 mins); J.Boyles, K.Dill, T.Outerbridge (Q.Paynter, 77 mins); R.Bean, J.Jennings, V.Tankard. Subs not used: J.Davis, M.Crane.

Booked: K.Dill (Village); S.Simmons, D.Binns, J.Butterfield (Eagles).

Men of the match: Sean Simmons (Eagles); Jemeiko Jennings (Village).

Referee: Cal Simons.