Dunbeholden won their first Jamaica Premier League (JPL) match of the season by defeating Cavalier 1-0 at Stadium East on Sunday (July 11).

Defender Andre Dyce netted the lone goal in the fifth minute as Dunbeholden earned their first three points in their third match to move from the bottom of the 11-team points standing, to eighth. Cavalier, on four points, dropped a spot to fifth.

The early goal dented Cavalier’s aspiration of a victory and the possibility of moving to the top of the points standing, as they failed to recover although mounting a few spirited attacks at goal for the remainder of the match.

Dyce, at the far post, side-footed the ball past Cavalier’s goalkeeper Jeadine White, after a Nickoy Christian corner picked him out unmarked.

Dunbeholden’s assistant coach, Ricardo Smith, singled out Christian for the inspiration he provided that enabled the victory. He also believes that the work that was put in over the past week, paid dividends.

“It was not an easy game, no way at all. It was nothing special we did, more than just worked. We went back to training and Nickoy Christian took the team and he was leading from the front.

“All the training sessions leading up today, he was the leader. From the warm-up to the game, he yelled at them, he encouraged them, he did everything, hence the performance today from him.

“We knew we had to come here today and soak up a lot of pressure because Cavalier is a ball-possession team and they are youthful, they run a lot, so we expected this from them. We talked about them, we watched them before and came with that strategy, sit back and try to catch them on the counter,” Smith said.

Cavalier’s coach Rudolph Speid, believes the windy condition prevented them from playing their usual pattern of play, especially after falling behind early.

“I can’t put my finger on any one thing (for the loss), but I think the early goal kind of stunned us. We were not able to play our usual standard and then the conditions were really breezy, very difficult to control the ball and that’s one of the reasons. It’s just a bad day for us we will just have to work hard and come again,” Speid said.