Hood pour it on against sorry Blazers
Robin Hood 5 Boulevard 0
Dudley Eve Trophy holders Robin Hood cruised into the semi-finals of the competition after coming away with a convincing victory over ten-man Boulevard at Goose Gosling Field last night.
John Barry Nusum’s team simply had things all their way, as they dominated possession and penetrated a porous Boulevard defence with relative ease and lethal consequences.
Teron Butterfield’s own goal two minutes into the match gave Hood a 1-0 advantage at the break.
The floodgates opened after the restart, with additional tallies from Shakir Smith, Ashton Bell, Tevahn Tyrell and substitute Tomiko Goater putting the game way beyond Boulevard’s reach.
Boulevard’s woes were compounded by the late sending-off of defender Nazeem Augustus after receiving a second booking.
Hood proved too powerful for their opponents despite coach Nusum making seven changes to his starting line-up and playing forward Antwan Russell in goal.
“A big part of tonight was to try and make sure we got a lot of the guys who haven’t got as many minutes some minutes tonight and it worked out,” Nusum said.
“No one came out with any injuries, so job done and we move on.
“The finishing was not bad. We could have had a few more [goals], plus there’s some stuff we still have to work on.
“That’s all we keep doing: try to work on things we can get better at.”
Hood, who have yet to concede in the competition, finished top of group B with a maximum six points from their two matches and will meet group A runners-up PHC Zebras in what is a tantalising semi-final pairing.
Group A winners Dandy Town will meet group B runners-up Devonshire Cougars in the other semi-final.
Hood went straight for the jugular from the opening kick-off and made the breakthrough on their first raid on Boulevard’s goal. Smith’s shot from Casey Castle’s cross took a wicked deflection off Butterfield and crossed the line with the goalkeeper diving the wrong way.
Hood pinned Boulevard in their own half as they went in search of more goals, with Tyrell, Justin Corday and Aaron Nelson also going close.
For all of their dominance, Nusum’s team had only a one-goal advantage to show for it at the break to leave Boulevard still in the match.
However, Hood did a better job putting away their chances in the second half to make their possession count and finally kill the game off.
Forward Shakir doubled his team’s lead with a 25-yard thunderbolt that flew into the roof of the net.
Defender Nelson made it 3-0 with a left-footed shot from inside of the box into the far top right corner.
Boulevard nearly pulled one back against the run of play when substitute TiaeVince Douglas dragged just wide of the far post from a tight angle on a rare counter-attack.
After being denied on several earlier occasions, Tyrell finally added his name on to the scoresheet when he converted Castle’s cross.
Goater then came off the bench to tap in Shakir’s short pass to complete the rout.
Boulevard were reduced to ten men two minutes from time when Augustus was shown a second yellow card.
SCORERS
Robin Hood: Butterfield (og) 2, Smith 48, Bell 52, Tyrell 56, Goater 84
TEAMS
Robin Hood (4-2-3-1): A Russell — A Bell, D Williams (sub: P Parsons, 75min), L Evans, C Castle — J Corday (sub: T Goater, 67), C Ryan — A Nelson, S Smith, L Steede — T Tyrell. Substitute not used: J Nusum. Booked: Corday, Tyrell.
Boulevard (4-4-2): A Famous — Z Stovell, J Williams, T Stovell, N Augustus — D Taylor, N Smith, A Smith, T Butterfield — I Coke, K McQueen (sub: T Douglas, 54). Booked: Augustus. Sent off: Augustus.
Referee: T Simons.