North Village 3 Southampton Rangers 1

North Village kept alive their Premier Division title hopes with victory over Southampton Rangers at Bernard Park yesterday.

Three first-half goals in the space of just 17 minutes from Pierre Smith, Jason Lee and Devrae Tankard sealed the win for Village who are now only three points behind league leaders PHC.

While Village looked every bit like title challengers in the first half, their performance after the break frustrated coach Shaun Goater who accused his team of taking their foot off the gas.

"It really was a game of two halves. The first half we were very solid defensively but the second was disappointing for me," he said. "We had plenty of opportunities in the second half and wasted them. We stopped doing the right things and ended up cheating ourselves."

Village's chief culprit was talented teenager Jason Lee who caused Rangers' defence plenty of problems with his pace and power but squandered a hatful of scoring chances, particulary after the interval.

"Jason's like a Playstation player sometimes, in that he thinks the chances will just keep on coming. He's still learning the game but he has to start putting away his chances.

"We're quite happy with where we are at the moment, though," added Goater. "We're nicely situated in the league and we are still in the title hunt."

A smart finish by rookie striker Pierre Smith gave Village an early lead which they doubled a few minutes later when the lively Lee finished off a fine move with a close range header from Devrae Tankard's deep cross to the back post.

Bermuda Under-23 defender, Tankard, then got himself on the scoresheet heading home Sammy DeGraff's outswinging corner to complete the scoring blitz to leave Rangers looking shellshocked.

In fairness to Albert Smith's Rangers they showed more attacking threat in the second half with Rohaan Simmons volleying wide from distance, before forcing a flying save from goalkeeper Jason Williams with a delicate lob.

At the other end, Village continued to create chances with Tankard failing to find the finish to his marauding run down the left flank, while former Bascome FC striker, Lee, missed two glaring scoring opportunities.

The first saw him put clean through from a Jonathon Briers pass but Lee delayed his shot allowing Rangers defender Tamel Hill to snuffle out the danger. Lee then missed another sitter when he fired straight at 'keeper Smith after collecting a left wing cross from Devrae Tankard.

Village profligacy in front of goal seemed to lift Rangers who actually finished the stronger of the two teams with substitute Temiko Flood sliding a shot against the post, before Kamen Tucker converted a late penalty after Kofi Dill was adjudged to have handled the ball.

North Village: J.Williams, J.Sousa, D.Tankard, R.Wilson, K.Dill, J.Briers (T.Outerbridge, 77), S.DeGraff, V.Tankard, J.Lee, R.Bean (M.Swan, 84), P.Smith

Substitutes not used: S.Goater, T.Fray, Z.Hendrickson

Scorers: P.Smith 9, J.Lee 21, D.Tankard, 26

Southampton Rangers: J.Smith, K.Tucker, M.Williams, K.Simons, D.Francis, T.Brown (T.Flood, 76), Y.Bean, A.Raynor, K.Smith (J.Caisey, 85), R.Simons

Substitues not used: J.Bean, G.Simons

Yellow cards: T.Hill, T.Brown

Scorers: K.Tucker, 88

Referee: A.Mouchette

Man of the match: P.Smith (Village)