The race for honours in the Coca-Cola First Division intensified further as Dandy Town and Boulevard took advantage of the slip by North Village to move level on points.

While Boulevard had their way in their match with Southampton, so did Town, who dominated Lorenzo Symonds' youthful Devonshire Colts outfit to the point of extinction at St. John's field.

Goals on either side of the interval by Town striker Carlos Smith and substitute Darren Simons settled matters in favour of the home team and more than offset a late tally by Ellington Weldon of Colts.

While the one-goal margin would indicate a close affair, this was not the case, as an efficient Town dictated much of the proceedings.

Carlos Smith and Lionel Furbert earned early respect from the Colts backline, marshalled by Derek Wright with a number of penetrating runs serving to unsettle.

One occasion arose in the ninth minute as a move started by centre-back Wayne Campbell had him pass forward to Furbert, sprinting down the left side and his cross into the middle skimmed off the head of Troy Lewis, with the goal beckoning.

At the other end live-wire winger Quincy Aberdeen drew life from the sizeable crowd on hand as his left-footed volley screamed inches over the crossbar, to the delight of goalkeeper Cymande Davis.

Following a cooling off period, high drama returned as Mark Ray caused a stir with his bending effort from 20 yards in the 31st minute that curled wide of the upright.

However, Colts would come to rue past failures when, in the 34th minute, Furbert and Smith combined to spur the home team into the lead, but just as much to blame was shoddy defensive work by Colts which allowed the play to take place.

Furbert was allowed room on the right near the corner flag, looked up and crossed into the middle for an unmarked Smith who fell forward, planting his header past a bewildered Hendrickson.

Luckily for the visitors they remained behind by just the single goal at halftime as Town squandered several opportunities to move further ahead.

Those fortunes would change drastically for Hendrickson in the second half as he made a number of errors, one of which cost his side dearly in the form of the winning goal.

After showing a glaring weakness in dealing with crosses -- particularly corner-kicks -- the 'keeper fumbled Paul Cann's 82nd minute left-wing corner and, although able to thwart an initial blast from Campbell, was left grappling open air as Simons slammed his follow-up home.

Not yet willing to concede, Colts stormed back to score a minute later through Ellington Weldon, but Town maintained their composure to cruise to victory.

The result put Colts four points off the pace in the title race, with only six games remaining.

Dandy Town: C.Davis; W.Rudo, W.Campbell, T.Durham, L.Christopher; D.Boyles, L.Furbert, T.Lewis; P.Cann, M.Wells (D.Simons 70 mins), Carlos Smith.

Devonshire Colts: A.Hendrickson; D.Williams, D.Wright, J.Samuels, A.Wilson; V.Ball (Jermaine Belboda 56 mins), M.Ray, L.Hypolite; Craig Smith, Q.Aberdeen (J.Weeks 70 mins), E.Weldon.

Referee: John Bento.

Men of the match: Lionel Furbert (Dandy Town), Leonard Hypolite (Devonshire Colts).

DANGERMAN -- Dandy Town striker Carlos Smith, who scored his 10th goal of the season yesterday, moves towards the Colts goal as Jahmal Samuels stays close.