Paget 1 Dandy Town 4

Angelo Simmons and Kwonde Lathan scored two goals apiece for Dandy Town Hornets in a comfortable victory over newly promoted Paget Lions on Saturday. Although the Pembroke outfit failed to advance past the group stage of the Dudley Eve Trophy, they have won their first two league games, much to the delight of assistant coach Cal Blankendal.

“We struggled to score goals in our opening fixtures, but we have started to find the net in our last two games, which is a good sign,” he said. “We made the game difficult for ourselves by lowering our intensity after scoring the first goal, but in the end we finished strongly and picked up all three points.”

Both teams were sloppy in possession in the early stages of the match, and the loose passing was the source of most of the opportunities.

Paget forward Akale Bean had the first chance of the match, as he intercepted a wayward pass just outside the box in the seventh minute. The forward should have done better with his effort, but his tame shot was easily saved by the goalkeeper.

The miss would prove costly as Town would take the lead ten minutes later through Simmons. Oneko Lowe latched on to a through-ball and was taken down inside the box as he rounded the goalkeeper. The referee allowed play to continue, as the ball fell to the Hornets captain, who applied the finishing touch.

Although still not convincing, Town looked to be gaining control of the match, but sloppy play at the back presented Bean with a similar chance to the first. This time the striker was able to move the ball on to his stronger foot and finish from 12 yards to draw his team level just before the interval.

Town started the second half a lot sharper and were back in front within three minutes of the restart, when Simmons found enough space on the edge of the box to get off a low drive that found the bottom corner.

Lathan would be next to get his name on the scoresheet in the 60th minute. A return ball over the top from a partial clearance caught the entire Paget defence flat, leaving the Hornets defender to walk in on the goalkeeper unmarked and pick his corner.

Ten minutes later, it was Lathan advancing forward again from a deep position, combining with his left winger and sweeping the return pass into the far corner to double his tally and put the game out of reach.

SCORERS

Paget

A Bean 44

Dandy Town

Simmons 17, 48

Lathan 60, 72

TEAMS

Paget (4-4-2): J Carpenter — M Burch, R Richardson, A Bean, K Smith (sub: D Smith, 70min) — T Welch, N Carpenter, J White, S Richardson (sub: D Curtis, 70) — D Frost (sub: K Whitter, 76), D Hart.

Dandy Town (4-4-2): T Hall (sub: J Roser, 83) — K Lathan, L Emery (sub: D Walker, 75), E Blankendal, Z Burchall — O Lowe, J Swan, A Simmons, T Manders — J Eve, N Spence (sub: O Wilson, 67). Substitutes not used: N Smith, T Wilson, G Liburd, N Eversley. Booked: Emery, Burchall.

Referee: L Christopher.