North Village 1

Devonshire Colts 0

North Village Rams were the beneficiaries of a dubious penalty call against Devonshire Colts in the Premier Division at Bernard Park yesterday.

With Vernell Lambe and Shayne Hollis, the Village midfielder, both chasing a ball into the Colts area, Butterfield stuck out a leg and appeared to take the ball away from Smith.

Hollis fell over under the weight of the challenge and Lyndon Raynor, the referee, awarded a penalty moments before half-time.

Pierre Smith stepped up and placed his effort past Gregory Rose, the Colts goalkeeper, who did well to get a hand to the ball.

It did little to help the mood of the Colts players and officials that Raynor admitted getting the decision wrong at half-time.

From the start both teams played an aggressive brand of football with Village seemingly a step quicker to the ball.

However, Colts played with a degree of passion themselves. It was an inspiration that, in the first third of the season, propelled them to the upper echelons of the table.

If Colts are to get back to that lofty position, they are going to have to bring the same level of intensity and determination that was on display yesterday, where they employed a hard-hitting, frenetic-paced defence, thereby keeping the Village frontline at bay.

With both teams struggling to muster and sustain any kind of attacking rhythm, it became increasingly obvious that the first team score first would win.

And so it proved. In a second half of few chances, the most action happened off the pitch when a verbal spat ensued between some of Village’s supporters and the Colts coaching staff.

Colts, still smarting from the penalty decision were voicing their displeasure over what they perceived to be some overzealous tackling by Village. However, order was soon restored by Raynor.

TEAMS

Scorer

North Village (P Smith 42)

North Village (4-3-3): J Lee — P Parsons, T Burgess, T Fray, Z Bowen — D Daniels, V Tankard, S Hollis (sub: E Zuill, 84min), K Bean (sub: K Lewis, 70), P Smith (sub: J Samuels, 82).

Substitutes not used: R Sampson, N Smith.

Devonshire Colts (4-4-2): G Rose — J Butterfield, K Butterfield, V Lambe, Q Jones — R Purnell (sub: C Trott, 78), T Eve, L Symonds, T Foote — Z Darrell (sub: K Jones, 53min), E Smith.

Substitutes not used: M Doucet, M Burch, D Lambe, Q Simmons. Booked: Rose, K Jones, Butterfield, Q Jones.

Referee: L Raynor.