St George’s 3 Young Men’s Social Club 1

St George’s kept their composure after falling behind to produce a stunning second-half performance at Wellington Oval on Sunday.

With the three points, the Colts move into the top half of the Premier Division but assistant coach Calvin “Patches” Dill is urging his players not to become complacent ahead of their FA Cup semi-final against Hamilton Parish on Thursday night.

“We are not quite safe from the relegation zone as yet, so it was important for us to get the three points,” Dill said.

“Also, it was nice that we scored those goals early in the second half so that we could rest some of our players for the upcoming FA Cup semi-final this week. We have to keep our players healthy and fit for that game.”

St George’s came out for the second half looking like a different team, with Blaiz Hall excelling.

"We had a good talk with Blaiz at the half,“ Dill said.

“He is a very skilful player with a lot of speed so we asked him to have a bit more confidence on the ball and in his ability. He did what was asked and everybody fed off his lead, which changed the game for us.”

Social Club got the start they were hoping for when captain Ryan Parris found David Jones with a defence-splitting pass and he was able to hold off his defender to side-foot past goalkeeper Jahquil Hill to open the scoring.

However, the lead was short-lived as St George’s equalised within seconds when they played the resulting restart down the left flank to Jonté Smith, who picked out captain Kashe Hall for an easy side-foot finish into the bottom corner of Social Club goalkeeper Saki Tuzo’s net.

Jones nearly scored a second when he dribbled before getting off a snapshot which deflected off defender Amon Simons’s body before skimming the crossbar.

Just before the interval, Social Club had a strong penalty appeal turned down as Jones played Josh Hardtman through. He appeared to be bundled over but referee Dwight Jackson showed no interest after checking with his assistant.

St George’s picked up the tempo from the start of the second half and started to string passes together down the flanks with the Hall brothers their leading playmakers. But Social Club should have made them pay when they intercepted a bad pass from centre half Philip Anderson, but Hardtman shot straight at Hill to let St George’s off the hook.

St George’s had the opportunity to take the lead when Kashe Hall picked up the ball deep in his half before dribbling past three defenders and slipping the ball to his brother whose goalbound drive was cleared off the line by a recovering defender.

Their persistent pressure paid off as Blaiz Hall made a darting run down the left flank before passing inside to Manoj Paynter, who scored the goal of the game with his curling effort from 25 yards nestling in the top corner of Tuzo’s net.

Within two minutes, the Colts would double their lead when right back Ari Cannonier dribbled forward and made a precise pass into space for substitute Paul Simons to run on to before rounding the advancing Tuzo to tap into an empty net.

With the loss, Social Club remain in eighth place, four points above the relegation zone with three matches remaining.

SCORERS

St George’s: K Hall 21, M Paynter 57, Simons 59

Young Men’sSocial Club: Jones 20

TEAMS

St George’s Colts (4-2-3-1): J Hill 6 — M Paynter 7 (sub: D Lodge, 77min), P Anderson 6 (sub: E Signor, 77), A Simons 6, A Cannonier 6 (sub: G Wade, 77) — J Salaam 4 (sub: P Simons, 24 7), C Minors 6 — B Hall 8, O Bascome 6, K Hall 8 — J Smith 5 (sub: J Daniels, 54 5). Substitutes not used: N Paynter, T Burgess. Booked: Salaam, Lodge.

Young Men’s Social Club (4-2-3-1): S Tuzo 6 — Z Hendrickson 6, Kelvon Butterfield 6, C Woolridge 6 (sub: K Smith, 62 5), B Swan 6 — R Parris 7, J Johnson 7 — J Richardson 5 (sub: R Clacken, 62 5), D Jones 8,—- M Wilson 6 (sub: C Hartdman, 68 5) — J Hardtman 6. Substitutes not used: Keshun Butterfield. Booked: Hendrickson, Smith, Kelvon Butterfield.

Referee: D Jackson