St. George's 0

North Village 1

A goal after 62 minutes by Ralph Bean denied the home team of a point they deserved from this Premier Division game at Wellington Oval yesterday.

In a contest that desperately needed a goal to add some flavour and bring it alive, Bean teamed up with skipper Sammy DeGraff to settle the matter – DeGraff providing the spadework and final pass for nimble Bean to tap the ball home from a few yards.

In losing by the slimmest of margin the home side proved that once they become more organised going forward they will be able to compete with the stronger teams and perhaps avoid being involved in relegation at the end of the season.

For some time they soaked up any pressure that Village could muster and then let themselves down by lacking imagination when they advanced in goalscoring positions.

The opening half was often dull and uneventful with neither team accomplishing much in the other's goalmouth.

After 21 minutes Freddy Hall in the Colts' goal, who indeed went on to snatch match honours, sensationally saved a blast from Village's Pierre Smith who directed a fierce shot on target from 14 yards.

A minute later though Colts stormed back in a counter attack with Mackie Crane finding young Jahron Dickinson with his defence-splitting pass but defender Devrae Tankard's timely last-gap slide prevented Dickinson from getting off his shot when well placed to slot the ball home.

Refusing to yield to the visitors Colts continued to press and they were unlucky after 31 minutes when Marcus Anderson astonishingly had his close-range shot blocked by the advancing Jason Williams in the Village goal.

Six minutes later Dickinson was rubbing his head in despair as his blast from 22 yards sailed just wide of the near post.

Village, always composed and a threat during counter raids, came close to scoring minutes before the break but Ralph Bean's 25 yard blast was brilliantly tipped over by goalkeeper Hall.

One hoped the second half would be more entertaining than the first and this proved to be the case. Within minutes of the re-start Hall was called on to deal with a long lob out of the Village defence, partially blinded by the sun he brilliantly tipped the ball over at the last minute to prevent the visitors from going ahead.

Allan Douglas, on as a sub for Misheal Paynter after 58 minutes, received a thunderous applause from the St. George's fans when he came off the bench and his appearances caused the defence anxiety with his speed and perseverance.

After 57 minutes Hall was again in action, this coming advancing off his line to block Devrae Tankard from close range.

Five minutes later, with Village gaining a slight edge, the inevitable go-ahead goal came with Bean providing the dividends as he normally does for Village.

Falling behind didn't bother the Colts much, in fact it seemed to inspire them because within two minutes Clay Darrell, who lacked support up front much of the time, had a shot – destined for the back of goal – strike the body of the falling Williams in the Village goal.

After the St. George's huge miss, Village had an ever bigger miscue when Tankard's superb cross from the right found substitute Tyrell Burgess but the lanky forward's wayward header from a couple of yards sailed wide of the near post.

Village pressed for a second but with a defence marshalled by centre-back Ernest Signor and with Hall as efficient the home side, who deserved a point, didn't intend to be that generous.

St. George's: F. Hall; G.Wade, E. Signor, D. Signor, J. Bassett; J. Hayward, M. Paynter (A. Douglas, 58), M. Crane, J. Dickinson; M. Anderson (R. Dickinson, 85), C. Darrell (J. Darrell, 78).

Substitutes not used: K. Greaves, G. Johnson, M. Simmons, P. Anderson.

Yellow cards: M. Crane

North Village: J. Williams; D. Tankard, K. Dill, S. Fubler, T. Manders; J. Jennings, J. Boyles (K. Dill, 76), S. DeGraff, P. Smith (T. Burgess, 52), J. Lee, R.Bean.

Substitutes not used: S. Jennings, A. Lee, K. Arruda.

Referee: Steve Allen

Man of the match: F. Hall (Colts)