Dandy Town 5 St George’s Colts 3

Dandy Town, losing finalists last year, made a promising start to their Dudley Eve campaign with a 5-3 win over a stubborn St George’s at Goose Gosling Field last night.

Jay Bean’s outfit played with energy and intent as they took the game to their opponents from the opening whistle with five different scorers finding the back of the net.

Despite the win, Coach Bean was not totally satisfied with the performance.

“We didn’t play our best football tonight and were lucky that St George’s didn’t take their chances,” he said. “We were complacent after taking the lead which kept them in the game.

“We must stay in the game for the whole 90 minutes because this is the top league so no one is going to give up but lessons learnt and we will improve from here.”

Town scored as early as the fifth minute as the ball was cleared down the right flank and crossed into the box where Khari Sharrieff-Hayward stabbed the ball home at the back post.

St George’s should have equalised within a minute when Town tried to play out from the back only for Kashe Hall to intercept the ball but his side footed effort hit the upright and bounced wide.

The miss proved costly as Town’s high pressure paid dividends in forcing the St George’s goalkeeper Zeko Burgess to mistime a clearance with the ball being played into the path of Chemari Henry who slotted into an unguarded net.

Within 15 minutes, the score was 3-0. Goalkeeper Burgess did well to block a shot from the left but Town captain Angelo Simmons was quick to pounce on the high rebound to tap into the net.

Town gifted St George’s their opening goal as they were guilty of playing too complacent out of defence with Terrence Webb robbed whilst in possession of the ball only to pull Hall back giving referee Martin Wyer one of his easiest calls to make in awarding a penalty. Hall made no mistake as he sent Town goalkeeper Daniel Johnson the wrong way.

Tomiko Goater produced a bit of magic when he ran onto a chipped ball over the defence before controlling and rounding the goalkeeper to score just before the break.

As the second half started, Town seemed to become complacent and with the vocal support of their coaching staff, St George’s continued to run hard with a never-say-die attitude.

Keishon Wilson beat the offside trap and held off two defenders to shot past the onrushing Town custodian to make the score 4-2.

Both teams made late substitutes as the game wore on leaving sub Cecoy Robinson to score the goal of the night.

A long diagonal ball was knocked in his direction which he took in stride to cut inside and out run his marker before side footing pass the advancing Burgess and into the net.

Kashe Hall scored a consolation goal, his second, from the spot when Johnson pulled down Blaiz Hall after he controlled a cross and was about to shot. Again, Hall made no mistake sending Johnson the wrong way.

SCORERS

Dandy Town: Sharrieff-Hayward 5, Henry 9, Simmons 15, Goater 40, Robinson 90

St George’s: K Hall 35, 90 + 2, Wilson 65

TEAMS

Dandy Town (4-2-3-1): D Johnson 6 – T Webb 6, S Darrell 6, J Bean-Lindo 5 (sub: J Chapman, 74), M Parsons 5 – N Spence 6, A Furbert 6 – K Sharrieff-Hayward 6 (sub: O Lowe, 65min 5), T Goater 7, C Henry 6 (sub: C Robinson, 65min, 6) – A Simmons 6. Substitutes not used: T Place, H Butterfield, J Richardson-Martin. Booked: S Darrell, D Johnson.

St George’s Colts (4-1-4-1): Z Burgess 6 – J Darrell 5, N Paynter 6, P Anderson 6, W Broadley 5 (G Wade, 80) – T Burgess 5 (sub: J Burgess, 80) – B Hall 6, K Hall 7, M Paynter 5, M Trott 6 (sub: S Blair-Paynter, 80) – K Wilson 6. Substitutes not used: K Stevens, J Carlington. Booked: J Darrell, K Hall.

Referee: M Wyer