Devonshire Colts 0

Dandy Town Hornets 1

A Ricky Saltus goal at the death gave Dandy Town maximum points as they narrowly beat a resilient Devonshire Colts side at St. John's Field yesterday.

Saltus' flick over Colts goalkeeper Greg Rose in the 90th minute was enough to give the defending champions three valuable points as they moved to the top of the standings with the win.

Skipper Damon Ming admitted that while the performance wasn't as colourful as past games, wins like this one will be necessary if they are to contend at the top as they look to make it consecutive league titles.

"We didn't play at our best today, it was a tightly contested match," said Ming. "They came out to play and we never really got going. In the opening 20 minutes we played very well but after we seemed a bit tired.

"Games like this are important to win because not every game will be free flowing."

Hornets had been looking to reclaim first place in the Premier Division with PHC's match against Somerset Eagles postponed, and were made to work for their win right up until the final whistle.

Saltus strike was the lone bright point in a match that lacked any real imagination and which neither team ever really looked like winning.

With chances turning out to be at a premium in contest, its wasn't until midway through the first half that either 'keeper had anything to do worthy of note, with Rose and Town's Treadwell Gibbons jr. having to make a few routine catches from crosses.

In terms of genuine chances, George Dyer had the best up until the Saltus strike but his attempt to steer home a cross went sailing over the goal from 10 yards.

Both sides couldn't find the telling pass throughout the match with most of the play being in the midfield. Colts had a half chance off a free kick, however, Bayon Robinson had his header saved by Gibbons with relative ease

Substitute Sakai Tuzo proved to be the player that was capable of providing the ball that would see the match settled, putting in Saltus with a delicate chip over the top for the striker to put home.

The victory lifts the champions to the top of the pile on 10 points, one above Zebras.

"Some games will be scrappy and we are a team that plays attractive football, and some teams will come out to unsettle us and today we showed that we can get these types of results and come out with the points," said Ming.

"So far this season we are playing really well, we understand what needs to happen if we want to defend our title and at the moment we are looking pretty good."

Devonshire Colts: G.Rose, T.Foote, B.Robinson, D.Williams, M.Burch, J.Washington (N.Bascome, 81), R.Tyrell (M.Pace, 77), C.Trott (K.Wade, 71), K.Jones, L. Symonds, C.Durham Subs not used: Q.Jones, J.Williams, M.Piper

Dandy Town: T.Gibbons, G.Dyer, J.Butterfield, F.Frankson, K.Tucker, J.Penitson, S.Darrell (L.Dill, 71), T.Daniels (S.Brown, 59), D.Ming, R.Saltus, L.Tucker (S.Tuzo, 66) Sub not used: S.Deshields

Goal: R.Saltus, 90

Referee: A Mouchette

Man of the Match: K.Tucker