by RENALDO GILKES

GOALS WERE SCARCE when the Barbados Football Association's Digicel Premier League continued at the YMCA on Tuesday night.

In the first encounter, a battle of the bottom two teams, Tudor Bridge beat 2006 champions Arawak Youth Milan 2-1, courtesy of a double strike from Rodney Seales in the 19th and 32nd minutes. Troy Johnson pulled one back for Milan in the 62nd minute.

The feature match between defending champions Barbados Defence Force (BDF) and Valrico Technico ended 1-0 in the soldiers' favour, with skipper Greg Belle scoring in the 46th minute.

Momentum

Tudor Bridge always seem to get out the gates quickly. However, their problem is maintaining that momentum and quality of play.

Good combination play between Curtis "Messi" Odle and Renal Smith led to Tudor Bridge's opening goal.

Odle played a searching ball to Smith on the left who left his marker in his wake and calmly crossed to the unmarked Seales who made no mistake from inside the area.

Flat defence

Tudor Bridge continued to attack and created many problems for the flat Milan defence, again missing the experienced Dwayne Skinner.

Seales scored his second minutes later, this time doing all the hard work himself. He took out two Milan defenders and drilled a powerful shot past custodian Adrian Chase.

Defender Johnson managed to pull one back for Milan. He flicked a Jason Blackman free-kick past teenage goalkeeper Dario Ward, who had an outstanding game, making numerous saves to ensure three points for his team.

The win took Tudor Bridge to seven points, the same as Milan, giving them company in the cellar.

The encounter between BDF and Technico was rather flat and lacked creativity and composure from either team.

Aggressive

The BDF were their usual aggressive selves, running the Technico attackers off the ball and forcing them to muff many chances.

One noticeable culprit in the wayward shooting department was bulky forward Damian Williams who had a night he would love to forget.

Rebound

Neither goalkeeper was tested in the first half as the majority of the action took place in the midfield, marred by careless tackles and indecisive passing.

BDF skipper Belle broke the deadlock, slotting home the rebound after Technico goalkeeper Bentley Springer failed to handle a fierce shot by midfielder Jamar Watson.

There was little to shout about after that, as the soldiers reverted to their traditional "kick and run" style and Technico lacked the creativity to crack a well-organised defence.

The result moved the soldiers to joint third position with Mackeson Triple Stoute Brittons Hill, on 15 points, while Technico remained seventh with ten points.