Robin Hood 4 St George’s 1

Robin Hood moved nine points clear of the drop zone, with a convincing victory over a struggling St. George’s Colts team.

The hosts were ruthless in front of goal, taking advantage of some loose defending and scoring three unanswered goals in the first half to cruise to a comfortable victory.

The result and performance was more impressive, considering Robin Hood were without the services of the Bermuda international pair of Jaylon Bather and player/coach Dante Leverock.

Matthew Fullerton, who stood in a coaching capacity alongside Timmy Figureido was pleased with the way the young squad took on the challenge.

“Most of the guys out there, particularly in the defensive end, were under the age of 18 and so our mindset was to focus on the unit and work hard for one another. Getting off to a good start was definitely important for us and being in that position at the half, the key was not to get complacent, stay organised and see out the match, which the players executed well,” said Figureido.

The match started at a fast pace with both teams testing each other and earning early corners. It was Hood who would make theirs count in the fifth minute when Cody Robinson struck a fine volley from just inside the box that went in off the inside of the post, after St. George’s failed to clear their lines.

The goal seemed to set the tone for the evening, giving the hosts the upper hand and 12 minutes later, they were celebrating their second of the night courtesy of an emphatic finish from Ereico Outerbridge. The winger was on the end of a ball played over the top on the right side of the box and with his first touch, he smashed his volley into the top corner, giving goalkeeper Freddie Hall no chance.

St. George’s woes began to compile as they were forced into an early substitution when Gregory Wade limped off injured and was replaced by Kenton Ottley. They continued to struggle in possession and the lacklustre first half performance culminated with a misplaced pass defence landing straight to the feet of Aaron Nelson, who walked into the box uncontested and slotted pass Hall, who was left stranded.

St. George’s made a number of changes at the half, bringing on two substitutes and moving Tyrell Burgess from a striker role to the heart of the defence.

The changes proved to be somewhat effective, as they came out of the interval on the front foot and within 10 minutes pulled a goal back.

Macai Simmons started the attack with a diagonal ball over the defence and was on hand to finish the move off with a well struck volley of his own, that sailed pass young goalkeeper Mataeo Holder.

The goal injected some belief into the visitors who were a little more fluid in possession but Hood maintained their resilience and composure and eventually sealed the victory when substitute Tajai Goater took advantage of a favourable deflection and finished calmly into the bottom corner to cap off a fine team performance.

SCORERS

Robin Hood: Robinson 5, Outerbridge 17, Nelson 45, Goater 89

St. George’s: Simmons 55

TEAMS

Robin Hood (3-4-2-1): M Holder 6 ‒ M Henry 6, C Robinson 6, N Massa 6 ‒ D Cook 5, T Bean 5 (substitute T Goater 73 6), L Evans 6 K Knights 5 ‒ A Nelson 5, E Outerbridge 7 ‒ C Brangman 6. Substitutes not used: S Burchall, A Simons Booked: Nelson

St. George’s (4-2-3-1) F Hall 6 ‒ N Paynter 5, E Signor 5 (sub K Burton 46 5), P Anderson 5, G Wade (sub K Ottley 25 4, sub C Burns 73) ‒ J Carlington 5, J Burgess 5 ‒ C King 5 (sub T McCallan 46 6), M Simmons 6, A Francis 5, ‒ T Burgess 6. Substitutes not used: J Brangman, S Blair-Paynter, C Ottley

Referee: A Francis