Somerset Trojans 0

Dandy Town 3

Dandy Town Hornets wrapped up their third Dudley Eve Trophy title in four seasons with a deserved victory at the National Sports Centre yesterday.

Hornets were the better team throughout, creating — and wasting — a host of chances in the first half that kept Somerset in the game at half-time.

Things got more interesting in the second half when Kevin Hurdle, the Hornets striker, finally broke the deadlock with his last touch of the game, before midfielder Tomiko Goater doubled the lead.

Substitute Jahnazae Swan, just 17, scored a memorable third goal in injury time to seal a second-straight win in the competition.

“We always create chances in games and as long as we are creating chances I feel we have a chance to win games,” Jomar Wilkinson, the Town coach, said. “I’m proud of my team today, they stayed consistent with the performance and we came out with a victory.”

Wilkinson was proud of Swan for the way he took his goal late in the game after coming on in the 74th minute. “He came on to do a job and just before the goal he went inside on a player,” Wilkinson said. “We asked him to go on the outside, he followed instructions and executed.”

Chances began falling Town’s way inside the first two minutes when a shot from Ayshaun Smith took a deflection before Shaquille Bean in the Trojans goal turned the ball around the post for a corner.

The lively Smith was posing early problems for the Trojans defence and he went close again when he took a pass from Damon Ming on the edge of the box, turned it on to his left foot and smashed an effort from 20 yards that Bean tipped against the crossbar.

Ming went close himself before his shot from inside the box was turned away for another corner by the goalkeeper.

Town had strong claims for a penalty turned down when Hurdle went down in the box from a challenge from Trevin Ming as a cross from Angelo Simmons came across the penalty box.

Simmons then laid on another cross from the right, this time Hurdle putting a weak shot wide of the far post. “And you wonder why they haven’t won any league games,” said a frustrated female fan as Town continued to waste good opportunities.

Somerset had a couple of good chances themselves soon after but Damon Swan and Leo Burgess shot wide on both occasions.

Somerset’s best chance came in the 40th minute when full back Azende Furbert pushed forward down the right and laid on a cross at the near post where Smith shot first time narrowly wide of the near post.

A Burgess free kick early in the second half brought a diving save from Ajai Daniels, the Town goalkeeper, before Sean Brangman powered a header from the resulting corner that again was saved by Daniels as Somerset showed they had something to offer.

Clay Darrell was waiting to come on as a substitute to add more thrust into the Town attack when the deadlock was finally broken in the 59th minute.

Damon Ming sent a perfect cross into the edge of the six-yard box and Hurdle, who had done little until then, planted his header past Bean. It was Hurdle’s final touch of the ball as he was already pencilled in as the player coming off.

“He gave all he could give and we appreciate him, he’s a leader in the team and has made us better,” Wilkinson said of the 37-year-old Hurdle, who rejoined the team from the Corona League side Tuff Dogs.

“Let’s not forget the two midfielders, Jahmel Swan and Tomiko Goater, who did an excellent job for us in the middle of the park, especially Tomiko, who I thought was the man of the match.”

Immediately, Darrell was in the thick of the action, side-footing straight at Bean from six yards.

Smith went desperately close to scoring a brilliant goal in the 69th minute when he ran diagonally into the box from deep on the left before unleashing a shot from the edge of the box that smashed against the top corner of the framework.

Goater put the match out of Somerset’s reach when he drove the ball into the roof of the net from the edge of the box in the 74th minute to double Town’s lead. Tahj Wade, a second-half substitute for Somerset, had the ball in the net in the 80th minute but it was ruled out for offside.

Swan’s brilliant effort in injury time added to Somerset’s gloom. He took a pass from Ming, raced away down the left flank and then kept his calm to steer his right-footed shot into the far corner from a sharp angle.

“We had a philosophy of hard work and hard work produces results, and we’ll use the momentum from this victory to start our chase on the leaders in the league,” said Brandon Minors, the Town captain, who was playing only his third game after recovering from a knee injury. “I picked up the knee injury at the end of last season but I went through some serious physio and a lot of hard work to get back.”