Dandy Town 1 X-Roads 2

Donavan Thompson netted twice to guide X-Roads to an important victory over Dandy Town at Goose Gosling Field yesterday and ease their Premier Division relegation worries.

Thompson scored twice in the second half either side of Tomiko Goater’s penalty for Dandy Town and Warriors’ assistant coach Ralph Bean Jr was proud of his team’s game management.

“We did really well to see out the game after we took the lead,” he said.

“In the position that we are in, three points is important. We would have taken one but everyone knew we were going for the win.”

Dandy Town started off the stronger in a fast-paced first half and nearly opened the scoring on two separate occasions in the same attacking move. Tomiko Goater found the overlapping run of Isaiah Blankendal on the left flank, but the latter rattled the crossbar with his initial effort before Angelo Simmons smashed the post from the follow up on the opposite wing.

X-Roads slowly grew into the game as the midfield duo of Ajai Daniels and Chae Brangman started to find ways to unlock Town’s defence and their best opening came when Daniels threaded a pass into Tyquan Perinchief, but the attacker fired his effort high over the bar.

Early in the second period, X-Roads took the lead, this time Chae Brangman fed a lovely ball over the top for Thompson to score his first of the afternoon, the striker beating the offside trap before finishing past Jaiden Manders. They then took control, knocking the ball confidently around the Town press but although they had a good majority of possession, they lacked the finishing touch.

Town equalised against the run of play just after the hour when Edry Moore was taken down by Tymon Daniels in the penalty area. Tomiko Goater slotted the resulting penalty into the far corner, sending goalkeeper Jamin Furbert the wrong way.

The 2018/19 FA Challenge Cup finalists took advantage of a poor defensive mistake to clinch the victory three minutes from the end of normal time. Michael Parsons tried to pass the ball to Terrance Webb but Darren Woolridge cut out the pass before cutting back for Thompson, who shifted his feet and fired into the near post past Manders.

Dandy Town coach Devarr Boyles was disappointed with the lack of clinical edge from the team. “We created enough chances to get a better result,” he said. “Yet, you cannot legislate for individual mistakes.

“There are encouraging elements from today. Some people are not really working for the team, and some coaches were absent, so we are a work in progress.”

Scorers:

Dandy Town: Goater 67 pen

X-Roads Warriors: Thompson 51, 87

TEAMS

Dandy Town (4-3-3): J Manders 6 – M Parsons 5, S Darrell 5 (sub: T Manders, 45min 5), D Cook 5, I Blankendal 5 (sub: D Scraders, 75) - E Moore 5 (sub: T Webb Jr, 42 4), J Johnson 6, Z Hart 5 (sub: C Robinson, 45 5) – T Goater 6, A Simmons 5 (sub: C Henry, 45 5), E Swan 6. Substitutes not used: T Smith, T Place, J Wilson-Butterfield. Booked: Simmons

X-Roads (4-2-3-1): J Furbert 6 – O Williams 5, T Daniels 6, L Simmons 5, D Simons 5 – A Daniels 7, C Brangman 5 – A Spencer 6, D Thompson 7, K Brangman 4 (sub: R Beek 28, 6; sub: A Wilson, 80) – T Perinchief 6 (sub: D Woolridge, 82). Substitutes not used: E Mensah

Referee: T Simons