Dandy Town 0 Paget 2

Paget Lions gave coach Antwan Russell a bittersweet moment as they played their hearts out to defeat Dandy Town Hornets at Goose Gosling Field on Saturday night.

Omari Tucker and Kamali Davis scored a goal in each half to bring some comfort to Ruseell as he mourns the loss of his father, legendary footballer Anthony ‘Toe’ Dill, who died last week.

“We have been working hard in training and got steady numbers coming out in each session,” said an emotional Russell after the match.

“I also lost my father last week. The viewing was today and the funeral is tomorrow so my head wasn’t on football. I just asked the players to play and let me do as little coaching as possible and they responded in a big way.”

Paget dominated the opening minutes of the game and took a deserved lead when Town defender Jerome Bailey and goalkeeper Azir Harvey failed to deal with a harmless diagonal cross. That allowed the ball to bounce to Omari Tucker who sidefooted over the head of the advancing goalkeeper into the net despite the efforts of a recovering defender.

Town’s best chance came after 30 minutes when a quick give and go between Tomiko Goater and Judah Chapman resulted in the former getting off a low drive which missed the upright by inches.

Town dominated the remainder of the half with captain Angelo Simmons and Jahzardae Samuels interchanging the striker role as each dropped deep to assist in the build-ups but they failed to penetrate a Lions’ defense marshalled by Julian Carpenter and Rakeem DeShields.

The Lions came out roaring in the second half and doubled their lead almost immediately when goalscorer Tucker turned provider with a forceful run down the left flank before his cross found Kamali Davis, who controlled and hit a curling left-footed shot into the corner of the net leaving the custodian flat-footed.

Town tried to pick up their game as Jomei Bean-Lindo hit a dangerous inswinging corner from the left with Paget’s desperate clearance falling to substitute Darron Simons.

His goalbound shot bounced high, forcing Lions’ goalkeeper Omari DeShields to backpedal before making a fingertip save over the crossbar.

DeShields was called into action moments later as another substitute, Dashun Butterfield, tried to sneak a low drive in at the near post.

Player/coach Russell introduced himself in the very last minute of the game and nearly scored with his first touch as his volley from captain Diage Hart’s pin-point cross went inches wide.

Paget’s win means they top the table heading into Sunday’s matches after winnning both their games, with this victory following a 2-1 win over Young Men’s Social Club last week.

Scorers

Paget: O Tucker 14, K Davis 47

Teams

Dandy Town Hornets (4-1-4-1): A Harvey 6 — Q Watson 5 (sub: D Ming, 50 min 5),J Bailey 5, D Leverock 5, J Bean-Lindo 6 (sub: K Sharieff-Hayward, 80) — J Richardson-Martin 5 (sub: D Simons, 78) — T Goater 6 (sub: K Brangman, 80), N Spence 5, J Chapman 6 (sub: D Butterfield, 50 6), J Samuels 6 — A Simmons 5. Substitutions not used: E Moore, G Liburd.

Paget Lions (4-2-3-1): O DeShields 6 — S Smith 6, J Carpenter 6, R DeShields 6, K Durrant 6 (sub: K Simons 72), — D Joell 5, P Castle 5 — A Grant 5 (sub: Z Weller 52 min, 6), D Hart 7, K Davis 7 (sub: A Russell 89) — O Tucker 6 (sub: E Calder, 80) Substitutions not used: J White, T Tucker, T Hall.

Referee: A Francis