Somerset Trojans 4

Paget Lions 1<$z$>Somerset Trojans returned to their winning ways against Paget at a jam-packed Somerset Cricket Club on Saturday night.

After being ousted from the Martonmere Cup competition earlier in the week, Trojans bounced back in style, banging four past Premier Division newcomers Paget who lost full back Kamen Tucker in the dying minutes of the match to a suspected broken right leg — to temporarily go top of the table for the first time this season.

With the wind at their back, the home team wasted little time asserting their dominance and piling pressure on the Lions’ defence.

Trojans’ returning captain Jelani Scott was at his best, winning nearly every duel in the middle of the park and orchestrating many of his team’s attacking forays along with the omnipresent Stephen Astwood running from deep.

Having gained the early momentum, it came as no real surprise when Damon Swan put Trojans ahead in the 25th minute by forcing the ball across the line during a goalmouth scramble.

Paget’s best chance of the opening half fell to player/coach and former Trojan Marvin Belboda. Belboda intercepted a poor clearance just inside the 18-yard box but his first time effort left much to be desired. Trojans led 1-0 at the half.

However, Scott would stretch the home team’s lead on the hour with a rasping left-footed volley from the top of the box that gave ‘keeper Tarik Smith no chance.

Yet Lions refused to bury their heads in the sand, and within five minutes pulled a goal back from the penalty spot to keep the match close.

During a rare Paget counterattack, Trojan’s Marco Butterfield appeared to handle the ball in the box, leaving eagle-eyed referee Leroy Wilson no other option but to award a penalty. Lions’ player/coach Belboda made no mistake with the resulting spot kick, drilling his shot hard and low to ‘keeper Adrian Burrows’ right.

With the pendulum now swinging slightly in their favour, Paget shifted into second gear and nearly equalised through midfielder Travis Wilkinson who forced Burrows to dive low to his left to keep out a fierce drive.

Belboda then failed to put away sub Michael Simons’ diagonal cross that sent the veteran striker clear on the right. Belboda hesitated to pull the trigger and the chance went begging.

These misses ultimately came back to haunt Paget as a physically superior Trojans thundered home two late goals to completely floor the visiting team.

Second half sub Aaron Williams restored Trojans’ two-goal cushion when he blasted home an Astwood rebound from point-blank range five minutes from full-time.

When the dust had settled, Tucker lay prone on the ground writhing in pain and had to be stretchered off and taken by ambulance to hospital.

Tucker’s departure left Lions one man short and Trojans wasted no time exploiting their numerical advantage.

Somerset striker Dion Stovell rounded off the scoring in dramatic fashion with a gem of a goal. The former Lion controlled the ball just outside the 18-yard box, looked up and picked his spot and then planted his shot into the roof of the net to send the home team’s fans into ecstasy.

Somerset<$>: A.Burrows, M.Butterfield, S.Riley, S.Simmons, D.Minors, J.Scott (capt), J.Butterfield, S.Astwood (Q.Aberdeen, 87 mins), D.Swan (A.Williams, 70 mins), D.Stovell, M.Thomas (A.Lambert, 80 mins).

Paget: T.Smith, K.Tucker, A.Bean (D.Steede, 45 mins), N.Simons, T.Wilkinson, D.Blyden, Q.Hunt, T.Brown (M.Simons, 61 mins), M.Belboda, D.Bailey (K.Durrant, 70 mins), E.Hunt.

Yellow cards<$>: D.Stovell (Somerset); M.Belboda, D.Bailey (Paget).

Men of the match<$>: J.Scott (Somerset); T.Wilkinson (Paget).

Referee: Leroy Wilson.