North Village 0 Dandy Town 1

Super-sub Jahtino Richardson-Martin was the toast of the dressing room after his match-winner earned Dandy Town victory in this evenly-fought Premier Division match at Bernard Park yesterday.

With the game seemingly headed for a draw, the Town forward reacted first to a rebound inside the box and fired past Jason Williams, the Village goalkeeper, to break the deadlock in the 76th minute.

Village piled on the pressure after falling behind and were denied an equaliser right on the final whistle when Mikkail Crockwell, the Dandy Town goalkeeper, made a brilliant save to repel Knory Smith’s goalbound effort.

Defeat would have been particularly hard for Village to swallow as they had the superior scoring chances.

The best fell to the usually reliable Shayne Hollis, who broke free only to lob wide of an empty goal when scoring seemed easier.

Village were also unfortunate when Anthony Mouchette, the referee, blew for a foul against Town rather than play the advantage which would have given Keishen Bean, the Village midfielder, a clear run at goal.

Jason Lee, the Village midfielder, also had a powerful header tipped over by Crockwell, whose contribution to Town’s victory was no less significant to that of team-mate Richardson-Martin.

Neither team managed to break down each other’s defence in the first half with Williams making the only save before the break to deny Fabian Frankson, the Town midfielder, from an angle.

The game finally opened up in the second half with Crockwell having to be at his absolute best to tip Lee’s header from a Phillip Parson’s cross over the bar.

Hollis then looked a gift horse in the mouth when he hurried a lob over the advancing Crockwell and wide of the near post even though he had time and space to weigh his options.

Richardson-Martin gave Town some spark in attack and caused all sorts of problems for Village’s defence with his penetrating runs after replacing Dominique Lambert in the 66th minute.

Tomiko Goater gave Village a wake-up call when he headed Angelo Simmons’s corner inches over the bar.

Village, however, did not heed the warning and were not as fortunate moments later as Richardson-Martin capitalised on some slack defending to score what proved to be the winner.

Williams failed to hold onto a shot from Seion Darrell and the unmarked Richardson-Martin buried the rebound inside the far post even though the goalkeeper got a glove to the ball.

Town were let off the hook twice in the latter stages as Bean was denied a free run at goal after the referee blew for a foul instead of playing the advantage, and then Crockwell dived full length to tip Smith’s angled shot over the bar to protect his team’s lead.