Dandy Town 3 BAA 2

Angelo Simmons, the Dandy Town captain, led by example as his side came from behind twice to win against BAA at St John’s Field yesterday.

The experienced striker had two assists from poorly defended corners and then thumped in the winner with a ferocious free kick from 25 yards to seal his team’s victory.

“Coach [Devarr Boyles] is always telling me he believes in me to hit that mark whenever we practice in training, and I’m just happy to have executed it well to get the three points,” said Simmons, alluding to his spectacular free kick.

“It was a hard-fought game but everyone put the work in and we were able to get three important points we needed to push up the table.”

BAA led 2-1 at the interval courtesy of a brace from striker Keishen Bean but they threw the game away with some poor defending after the break, which Town ruthlessly exploited.

“We made some critical errors in the most important part of the field and we can’t make any excuses,” Andrew Bascome, the BAA coach, said.

“Town kept their shape and played with belief and the last goal was fantastic.”

Town dominated the early exchanges but looked vulnerable in defence, particularly coping with the long ball which led to Bean opening the scoring.

A long ball up sliced Town’s defence apart and Bean pounced, drawing goalkeeper Jaiden Manders off his line before slotting into the empty net.

However, it did not take long for Town to get back on level terms as forward Nizigh Spence seized upon some poor goalkeeping from former Town man Daniel Johnson.

Johnson failed to hold on to Michael Parson’s scuffed attempt from just outside the box after getting on the end of Simmons’s short corner and Spence ran unchecked to slot the loose ball home. But all of Town’s hard work came undone as BAA regained the lead in spectacular fashion from a set piece.

Tre Manders, the Town defender, handled a long ball and Bean stepped up and smashed in the ensuing free kick from 25 yards out to put the visiting side back in front.

It proved to be the last act for Manders who made way for Kwonde Lathan who tightened the backline and played a key role in Town’s dramatic late winner. Town started the second half with a more sense of urgency and after testing Johnson a few times, finally broke BAA’s resistance to draw level again.

Simmons whipped in a corner which BAA failed to clear, leaving Kwame Steede with a simple tap at the far post.

The game opened up thereafter with both teams creating chances before Simmons finally settled this tight affair.

Tyrell Burgess, the BAA defender, conceded an unnecessary corner before Lathan was hacked to the ground outside the box.

With the game on the line, a composed Simmons drilled the ball into Johnson’s top right corner to put his team ahead for the first time and complete their impressive fightback.

SCORERS

Town: Spence 26, Steede 47, Simmons 81

BAA: Bean 18, 31

TEAMS

Dandy Town (4-3-3): J Manders — E Blankendal, T Manders (sub: K Lathan, 41min), E Moore, A Furbert — S Darrell, M Parsons, J Swan (sub: D Ming, 72) — K Steede, N Spence (sub: J Richardson-Martin, 53), A Simmons. Substitutes not used: K Wade, A Mohamed, O Wilson, T Gibbons. Booked: T Manders, Moore, Darrell.

BAA (4-4-2): D Johnson — A Butterfield, T Burgess, Q Lema, Z Robinson (sub: M Iris, 56) — L Roberts (sub: M Hardtman, 61), I Simmons, N Rego (sub: M Brangman, 68), S Somner — D Bascome, K Bean. Substitutes not used: A McDowall, A Darrell, K McQueen, R Murphy, J Hardtman.

Referee: M Wyer.