FOOTBALL, widely seen as the world’s ultimate team sport, is a true example of the little parts working together for the bigger objective.

Sometimes those little parts combine to create a goal of sublime beauty, and other times it is to efficiently stifle the opposing team’s attack. Though the striker, the goalkeeper or a defender may receive the obvious praise, the reality is that several others usually aid in the objective.

However, on rare occasions, both internationally and on local shores, there have been cases where one player, acting almost independently, has bossed a game to such a degree to leave one questioning football’s tag as a team sport.

Add Monday night’s Red Stripe Premier League final and the impact of the slippery Dino Williams to such cases.

Slim built, of medium height, but obviously a tower of strength, Williams, 24, literally lifted Montego Bay United to a 5-2 win over Waterhouse FC at the National Stadium.

The ex-Village United star impressively scored three times and assisted the other two goals on the night.

Still, the statistics do not tell the whole story.

Williams, exhibiting uncommon balance and deceptive pace, pulled apart the Waterhouse defence with the dexterity of a tailor crafting an article of clothing. He was nothing short of a magical shadow in the dark.

His second strike, which gave Montego Bay the lead for good at 2-1, was particularly pleasing to the eyes and had spectators in a tizzy after the initial shock at its sheer brilliance.

Williams, formerly of Green Pond High in

St James, dribbled from left to right across the 18-yard box, holding off a few shoulder barges before unfolding a stylish pirouette, eluding

two players and slotting past goalkeeper

Richard McCallum.

It seemed the manner of the goal broke the will of Waterhouse. Montego Bay never looked back.

Near the end, the experienced coach Dr Dean Weatherly substituted Williams, allowing him to be serenaded by the fans.

“Everyone saw the boss at work. It was his game, so I had to let him have a standing ovation and feel good within himself,” a beaming Dr Weatherly reasoned.

Dr Weatherly, who only took over the reins at the club seven matches ago, said Williams had to be re-invigorated after lacking confidence earlier in the season.

“Coming here we had to make Dino believe in himself again. He was having a little bad patch and he was sometimes on the bench. I came in and re-energised him mentally and let him remember his schoolboy days when he was one of the best footballers down west. What is better than the final to show his true self?”

Williams, incessantly congratulated by fans and teammates after the match, said he knew it was his responsibility to push the team to victory.

“It’s a good feeling, and I knew I was one of the guys who would have to go out there and work hard and turn up for the team in this crucial game.

“I had some niggling injuries that affected me back then, but I had to turn up at the big moment. From we got the first goal I knew that defence line was soft,” Williams told the Jamaica Observer.

The Waterhouse coach Anthony Patrick, probably scratching his head after witnessing such a second-half collapse from his team in the most significant game of the campaign, credited Williams, while being critical of the standard of the defending.

“He was clinical, but we asked the players not to give him any room around the back. The

senior players never really followed the instructions. We let him in and he took the opportunities,” Patrick bemoaned.