Dwayne Mars is not the kind of forward who refuses gift goals, especially when he is about to be substituted.
Mars gladly accepted the generosity of goalkeeper Bentley Springer to score an opportunistic 54th-minute goal and give Claytons Kola Tonic Notre Dame a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Weymouth Wales in a Digicel Premier League football match at the Wildey Football AstroTurf on Sunday night.
After Springer failed to hold on to a shot from Giancarlo Cobham, an alert Mars pounced on the loose ball and hit home a left-foot shot.
Immediately after, he handed over the captain’s arm band to defender Kimoi Seale as Zico Edmee took his place up front alongside DeCarlo Jemmott, who should have added a second goal for the Dames after beating the off-side trap but chipped wide with only Springer to beat.
Wales, who had dominated the early exchanges, had chances to equalize. Substitute Ryan Grimes had his header blocked on the line by Dames goalkeeper Morrison Taylor and Kemar Headley, who had a number of near misses, also lashed a left-foot shot over the bars after a defensive error by Mitchum President.
Earlier, Wales failed to capitalize on a Dames side missing the experience of John Hawkesworth, John Parris (who only came on in the last 20 minutes to help protect the one-goal lead) and Rudi Grosvenor, who was substituted after only 13 minutes with a knee injury.
The best opportunity fell to Anthony Forde after Taylor lost possession of the ball but somehow he hit his shot onto the leg of defender Mario Marshall, positioned on the goalline.
National player Carl Joseph had looked threatening against his former Dames’ teammates but his participation in the match was cut short seven minutes before half-time by Wales’ coach Adrian Hall, who granted him his wish to be substituted.
In the opening match, Cosmos added to their 2-0 first-round victory over Youth Milan in the northern derby with a 3-1 triumph this time.
Maradona Lavine opened the scoring in the 17th minute and Kareem Frederick made it 2-0 in the 51st, placing a penalty low to the right of goalkeeper Adrian Chase after Jamar Grazette was brought down in the area.
Teenager Josimar Skinner pulled a goal back for Youth Milan in the 61st minute with a low left-foot volley but the Checker Hall, St Lucy-based side seemed to be affected by some calls from referee Adrian Skeete which went against them, and lost their focus.
Defender Shawn Wilson was redcarded for a foul on Shane Small in the 64th minute while Romel Corbin was also ejected for a sliding challenge on goalkeeper Richard Corbin in the 83rd minute.
Substitute Zico Greaves compounded Youth Milan’s woes in the 86th minute with an uncontested back post header after Lavine slipped past his marker and floated in the cross from the left side.
This match also saw Ramon Greaves of Youth Milan being foiled as he tried to get past his brother, Rene Greaves in the Cosmos defence, which was admirably marshalled by Carli Stephens with support from Donovan Lavine.
