Robin Hood 3 North Village 0

Robin Hood put pressure on the top half of the table with a convincing victory over champions North Village at Goose Gosling Field last night.

It was a good all-round team performance from the home side to inflict on Village their first league defeat. Che Brangman was the standout, leading his team from the front and bagging an impressive hat-trick in the process.

Head coach John Barry Nusum was pleased with the result but more so with his team’s execution in the final third. “We have talked about our inability to put teams away when we are on top of them, and how we need to be more ruthless in and around goal,” he said. “Tonight we were a lot better in that area collectively, which was capped off by a clinical display of finishing from Che.”

Hood were on the front foot from the outset and came close in the tenth minute when Liam Anderson put a dangerous, low cross into the box, but Brangman could not get the decisive touch with his outstretched boot.

Ten minutes later, however, Brangman would not be denied as he received the ball on the edge of the box, turned sharply and finished firmly into the bottom corner to give his team the lead.

Before the dust had settled, it was Brangman again getting the final touch on a cross from the overlapping Adrian Trott.

At the other end, Village had a couple of good looks when Jaizel Smith-DeShields went just wide with his shot from the edge of the box and a snap volley from Keishen Bean caused goalkeeper Jade Morrissey to scramble to his left to parry for a corner.

Just before the half, a nasty clash of heads caused a lengthy delay for treatment, with Village defender Kyler Knights unable to carry on.

Village then had their best chance of the match when Smith-DeShields beat the offside trap to get in behind, but was off target with his effort from a tight angle.

After the interval, Hood were back in control and it wasn’t long before they found the final goal to put the game out of reach. A free kick from the left was floated into the back post, where Jaylon Bather’s header back was met by Brangman, who finished well from close range.

Village made changes in the top half, bringing on Rai Simons, who thought he had made the ultimate impact with a good finish from a sweeping play, but was adjudged to be offside.

SCORERS

Robin Hood: Brangman 21, 28, 57

TEAMS

Robin Hood (3-4-2-1): J Morrissey — J Bather, D Leverock, L Evans — A Trott, A Simons (sub: C Ricca, 87), P Parsons, J Corday — A Nelson (sub: C Castle, 84), T Goater — C Brangman (sub: J Bell, 71). Substitutes not used: T Bean, T Frias, K Knights, E Outerbridge. Booked: Bather, Nelson.

North Village (4-3-3): T Bell — K Knights (sub: N Araujo, 42min), T Fray, Z Robinson, Q Lima — I Simmons, J Briers, T Williams — R Rochester (sub: D Daniels, 65), J Smith-DeShields, K Bean (sub: R Simons, 78). Substitutes not used: A Darrell, J Lee, S Jennings, P Smith. Booked: Simmons.

Referee: D Jackson.