Rivoli United's Derrick Planter heads the ball as he is challenged from behind by Boys' Town's George Vernal, during the Digicel Premier League match at Collie Smith Drive on Sunday. Peter Keyes scored at the 11th minute to hand Boys' Town a 1-0 win. - Ricardo Makyn/Staff Photographer

BOYS' TOWN striker Peter Keyes found the combination to provide yet another game-winner, unlocking a Digicel Premier League encounter against Rivoli United that could have ended a stalemate for many reasons, at Collie Smith Drive yesterday.

Keyes, like he had done when netting goals that proved key to Colour Reds' victories in the four opening rounds, scored his sixth goal of the season at the 11th minute in what many considered a tough scrap, to keep his team fourth in the standings as they advanced to 30 points.

"We got three points, we're back to winning ways," noted Andrew Price, technical director of Boys' Town, which had lost their previous game at St Georges.

Price added: "It wasn't a pretty game. Rivoli is a good team, I've been following them for the past seven games and they've been playing really well.

"It was good that Peter Keyes scored that goal early," he noted. "There will be times when other players have to step up and he really did that today; he kept the Rivoli defenders under pressure."

Rivoli's chance

Rivoli United, which started the day fourth from bottom with 14 points, just three ahead of cellar team Meadhaven, landed punches evenly but apart from giving up a soft goal, they could not convert and paid the price for their ineptitude.

"We really stood and watched Boys' Town put a ball in the net. I'm disappointed in the result and how the goal was scored," admitted Bradley Stewart, who joined Rivoli as technical director recently, while assessing the breakdown in mid-pitch that led to the build-up to goal that hardly drew what could've been considered a challenge.

Giving further assessment to their state of affairs, Stewart, a veteran coach, pointed out: "We're in the bottom six and if you look at the games against the teams in the top six, we've done well. I thought we did well against leaders Harbour View (1-1 the previous match). Boys' Town are also in the top six and we did well here today.

"The kids we have, some are very, very young, some are members of the Under-21 team. It's a process and once we continue to improve, then we can harbour some thoughts of doing well."

He added: "There are some positives in that we played well, we dominated the game and we're creating opportunities to score goals. We did that well, we just did not execute."

Strong defence

With Boys' Town defenders, notably Carlos Wright, doing a tight-marking job on Rivoli's talisman, league-leading scorer Devon Hodges (10 goals), Rivoli got enough chances, especially from Fidel Anderson and Barrington Planter, to get out of jail.

"It's a lack of concentration," Stewart noted of their plight. "We're trying to put them into a tactical framework, trying to afford each player specific tactical functions. If you use today's game as a yardstick, given that Boys' Town are in the top six, then I think we're making progress as we were making good combinations.

"Where the letdown is, is we're not putting the ball in the top of the net."

Price, whose teams also squandered its fair share of chances to seal the tight-marking, see-saw encounter, believes anxiety to quickly create breathing space with a second goal left them exposed in the latter stanza.

"In the second half, we didn't settle down well. We were looking to get that second goal to kill off the game," he reasoned.

Price added: "Though we came under a lot of pressure, we stood up and fought and we were able to come away with three points and that must be good, especially when you're playing at home."