Dandy Town draw against Defence Force

The Bermuda team put in a heroic performance at BAA Field, and were more than a match for their more fancied opponents.

With a little more firepower upfront Town might even have won their CFU Club Championship first leg encounter, but Jahmel Swan’s header aside they lacked that extra something which would have made all the difference.

How costly Sean Narcis’ equaliser will be in the final reckoning is anyone’s guess, but nothing should detract from an impressive Town display that left Russell seeking a tape of the game so he could go back to Trinidad and figure out just what went wrong.

When Russell does watch the replay he’ll see that the answer is very simple. Town ran, and ran, and ran, and never let Force settle into the kind of rhythm that they so obviously like to play at.

At the heart of the Town engine room where Swan and Jared Peniston, who mostly neutralised the threat posed by Sean Narcis, Jerwyn Balthazar, and striker Richard Roy.

Towards the end as Swan and Peniston tired, the defence, which was magnificent throughout, stepped up their game another notch, comfortable in the fact that they had Daniel Johnson behind them.

The Town goalkeeper made a string of fine saves last night, several from point blank range to deny Roy when it seemed the Force striker must score.

Hornets though where more than just honest workers, they created several chances as well, and Swan’s goal when it came was hardly against the run of play. The only surprise was that, against a team of giants, the diminutive midfielder scored with a header.

Most of the blame for that must fall on the shoulders of Force goalkeeper Kevin Graham, who made a complete mess of a corner and could only watch as the ball sailed over his head and was nodded in by the unmarked Swan.

Going behind stunned Force into action, and Balthazar, who was his side’s best player, started to make his presence felt going forward.

In the end, Force’s equaliser, which came with little more than 30 minutes gone was more about the pace and power of Narcis than anything else. The midfielder drove from deep, swapped passes with Balthazar on the edge of the box, and with the Town defence split, fired the ball past Johnson.

Both side’s had chances to go back in front before the break, and Peniston for Town, and his opposite number Michael Edwards should have done better with their efforts on goal.

The visiting team largely had the better of things in the second half, and Kemon Tucker and Johnson both had to be alert to deny Roy.

At the other end the out of sorts Raymond Beach missed a golden opportunity to put his side back in front when he completely missed the ball with the goal at his mercy.

However it was Kerry Joseph who missed the best chance of the night. Having waltzed through a Town defence that switched off for just a moment, he fired his shot across the face of goal with Johnson beaten.

In the end a draw was no more than either side deserved, and on this evidence the result of the second leg is certainly not a formality.

Town and boss Jomar Wilkinson certainly won’t think so, and if Russell did before, he won’t now.

Teams

Dandy Town: D Johnson, G Dyer, F Frankson (Yellow), K Tucker, D Ming, J Swan, J Peniston, L Dill (H Wolfe 82nd), S Darrell, W Place (S Burchall 70th), R Beach.

Subs not used: R Wells, J Butterfield, T Daniels.

Defence Force: K Graham, R Fletcher, M Edwards (J Sebro 73rd), K Joseph, C Rivers, J Balthazar (B Julius 89th), S Narcis (Yellow) (K Williams 82nd), D Pacheco, R Elcock, A Edwards, R Roy.

Subs not used: D Prince, R St Louis, J Neptune, G Franklin.

Referee: K Holder (Cayman Islands).

Man of the match: J Swan.

Dandy Town draw against Defence Force.
bernews.com.

The Bermuda Football Association’s Defending Premier Division Champions Dandy Town Hornets took on Defence Force from Trinidad in the first round of the Caribbean Club Champions Cup yesterday at the BAA Field. The game ended in a draw 1-1.

Bermuda’s Damon Ming had the first shot of the game in the 4th minute, which was collected by the Defence Force goalkeeper Kevin Graham.

The Dandy Town Hornets took the lead in the 22nd minute when a corner from Damon Ming was headed into the back of the net by Jahmel Swan.

In the 30th minute a good build up resulted in the Defence Force equalizer, a ball played across the middle found Sean Narcis who scored from just inside the box.

In the 40th minute Narcis had a shot go into the side netting after beating two Dandy Town defenders. In the 43rd minute, Dandy Town’s goalkeeper Daniel Johnson made a sliding save to deny Kerry Joseph a goal scoring opportunity. The referee brought the first half to a close with the teams tied at 1 – 1.

The second half started much like the first with both teams playing the ball around, looking to create opportunities.

In the 70th minute Dandy Town’s Wolde Place was replaced by Shannon Burchall, and in the 81st minute Heys Wolfe replaced Lashun Dill.

The game ended 1-1, and Dandy Town will travel to Trinidad to play the second leg of the Caribbean Club Champions Cup later this month.

The officials for the match were referee Kenville Holder, assistants Dwayne Ebanks and Swanson Owen, while Nolan Foster was the fourth official. All are from the Cayman Islands, while the Match Commissioner is Dale Spencer from Jamaica.

Teams

Dandy Town Hornets: Daniel Johnson, George Dyer, Fabian Frankson, Kamen Tucker, Seion Darrell, Lashun Dill, Damon Ming, Jared Peniston, Jahmel Swan, Raymond Beach, Wolde Place.

Defence Force: Kevin Graham, Aklie Edwards, Rodell Elcock, Rawle Fletcher, Dexter Pacheco, Corey Rivers (capt), Jerwyn Balthazar, Kerry Joseph, Michael Edwards, Richard Roy, Sean Narcis.

VIDEO: - Highlights

Russell surprised by speedy opponents.
By Stephen Wright (royalgazette).

A disappointed Defence Force coach Ross Russell expressed his surprise at how well Dandy Town acquitted themselves against his side in last night’s CFU Club Championship qualifier.

Ross said he was impressed by the speed at which Hornets moved the ball around BAA Field and will request a DVD of the game to help him draw up a game plan for next weekend’s crunch second leg in Trinidad.

‘I was disappointed with a draw whether we were away from home or not,” said Russell. “A draw is not a bad result away from home but I feel we could have done better.

“I was surprised with the speed of (Hornets) actually. They moved the ball around well and gave us a good game. We’re hoping to get a copy of the tape so we can access the game. We can now access (Hornets) as well as we now know what they have. We will go home and do a bit of home work on them.”

Despite being away from home, the Trinidadian champions started the tie as heavy favourites but found themselves trailing after 22 minutes when Jamel Swan headed home from a Lashun Dill corner.

It was a poor goal to concede from Force’s perspective and Ross admitted he was unhappy with the “ragged” manner in which his team defended during the first half.

“I thought our defence looked ragged at the start and we didn’t keep our shape well,” Ross said.

Force, a team made up of military men, will renew hostilities with Hornets next Saturday in Trinidad with Ross confident of his side winning the second leg battle on home soil.

“We’re always confident at home ... home is home,” he said. “I give (Hornets) credit with the way they played tonight but we’re always confident in front of our home fans.”

Hornets coach Jomar Wilkinson hailed his team’s character having given themselves a fighting chance in next weekend’s second leg in the Caribbean.

“We showed a lot of character tonight and I’m delighted we’ve come away with a positive result,” he said. “I am very pleased with our performance.

“Football’s a funny sport and who knows what can happen down there next weekend.”

Wilkinson gave his midfield ‘dogs of war’ Jamel Swan and Jared Peniston a special mention for their workaholic performances in the middle of the park.

“(Peniston and Swan) gave us some stability and their work rate was very high,” he added.