An injury-time penalty by Antwan Russell injected new life into the Premier Division title race after Robin Hood sent leaders Dandy Town Hornets crashing to their first league defeat of the season.

Town were rocked by Russell’s late goal which cut their lead to six points. A draw would not have helped Hood’s chances of a first title, but Russell’s goal changes things and left coach Kyle Lightbourne a relieved man at the final whistle.

“It’s good because Antwan hasn’t scored in a while,” Lightbourne said. “We have to hope that other teams take points off them as well.

“This is their first [league] defeat of the season so it was a big win for us today.

“We’ve got a tough game next against PHC who have beaten us on a few occasions this season. Today will definitely give our boys a little confidence. It wasn’t a great game, the pitch made it difficult, but it worked in our favour because Dandy Town are a good ball-playing team and it was hard for them to play in these conditions.”

Only Hood and North Village capitalised on Town’s first defeat, with Zebras losing 2-0 at Bernard Park while Devonshire Colts slipped to fifth after going down 3-1 at home to Hamilton Parish who boosted their survival hopes with their second win of the season.

Jomar Wilkinson, the Town coach, remained upbeat as his team remain the firm title favourites.

“It was very unfortunate today, K’wonde [Lathan] slipped and the ball hit his arm,” Wilkinson said.

“My team is obviously upset about the loss, they have worked extremely hard all season. But what is important to me now is how we respond. It’s not how you fall down but how you rise again that really counts.

“We need to show mental toughness going forward and we’re still six points ahead of the second team and there is still a lot of football to be played. We’re still in the driver’s seat and we will push on and look to learn and grow from this loss.

“Every game in the second half of the season is going to be a difficult one, it’s the business end of the season and we understand that. But we’re up for the challenge.”

Fresh off an 8-3 thrashing of Devonshire Colts, Town were below their best yesterday as Hood seized their chance late in the game.

“Sometimes you just have to learn how to win ugly,” Wilkinson added.

“Today I thought we created enough chances to win but we didn’t take our chances.”

Parish’s victory over Colts and the 2-2 draw between Boulevard and Somerset Trojans, puts added pressure on Devonshire Cougars and Southampton Rangers to get a good result in tonight’s rescheduled match at Devonshire Recreation Club. Parish remain ninth but are just a point behind Rangers and Boulevard.

Keemo Smith, the Boulevard assistant coach, was delighted with his team’s share of the spoils against Trojans, who won the Friendship Trophy on New Year’s Day.

“Actually it was a pretty tough one today,” he said. “We got a good start but playing Somerset away is always a hard game and they are champions.

“A 2-2 draw is a good result for me. We didn’t win, but we also didn’t lose and a point is very valuable — especially when you are away from home.”

Kieshon Smith, the Trojans coach, believed his side did enough to win. “It was a good game,” he said, “but that’s how the game goes sometimes.”

Richard Todd, the Village coach, said he was proud of his side’s win over rivals PHC at Bernard Park.

“I was pleased with our all-around performance,” Todd said. “I thought our structure defensively was very sound and we were difficult to penetrate.

“Also, our attacking mobility was good and we pulled the PHC defence about well.”