X-Roads 1 Young men’s Social Club 2

A penalty miss in the dying minutes by X-Roads’ Tymon Daniels allowed Young Men’s Social Club to grab all three points in a crucial relegation battle at St David’s yesterday.

The win moves Social Club four points clear of the relegation zone, much to the delight of coach Michael Smith.

“It was a hard-fought game,” Smith said.

“We knew it was going to be mucky due to the conditions and we took some time to settle. The goal they scored was a wake-up call for us and then we started to play. We almost gave it away in the end but the penalty miss was a big relief.”

Social Club started the brighter of the two teams on a gloomy day forcing two early corners, but it would be X-Roads who opened the scoring against the run of play when Donovan Thompson intercepted the ball and passed to substitute Teiko Lowe, whose shot squeezed under the body of diving Social Club goalkeeper Saki Tuzo.

Social Club levelledjust before the break when Micah Hardtman’s glancing header from Giniko Butterfield’s inswinging corner went in off the underside of the crossbar giving Warriors’ goalkeeper Peter Sylvester no chance.

Social Club took the lead immediately from the restart after intercepting the kick-off to mount an attack down their left flank. David Jones held off a defender to draw Sylvester to the near post before passing to Malique Wilson, who beat his marker to the ball as both scorer and defender slid into the net.

X-Roads should have equalised on the hour mark when a quick give and go between Akim Johnston and Aaron Spencer resulted in the latter putting Thompson through, but he would scuff the chance, putting his shot into the side netting from a threatening position.

With time running out, defender Angelo Matthews picked out Charles Whited with a threaded pass over the top of the Social Club defence only for Callan Woolridge to bundle him over as he headed for goal giving referee Dwight Jackson the easy task of awarding a penalty.

After a four-men tussle to decide who would take the kick , Daniels blasted the ball over over the top to send the Social Club players and fans into jubilant celebrations and leave Warriors coach Ralph Bean Jr disappointed at his side missing out on salvaging a vital point.

SCORERS

X-Roads: Lowe 16

Young Men’s Social Club: M Hardtman 36, Wilson 46

TEAMS

X-Roads Warriors (4-2-3-1): P Sylvester 6 — J Smith 6 (sub: O Williams, 86min), T Daniels 6, A Cajee 6, A Matthews 6— A Spencer 6 (sub: D Woolridge, 88), K Richardson 5 —- A Johnston 6, C Whited 6, J Lottimore 4 (sub: T Lowe, 5 6) — D Thompson 6. Booked: Thompson.

YMSC (4-2-3-1): S Tuzo 6 — K Smith 5 (sub: J Richardson, 30 6), Kelvon Butterfield 6, C Woolridge 6, T Butterfield 6 — R Parris 7, G Butterfield 6 — M Wilson 7 (sub: J Hardtman, 68 5), J Mallory 6 (sub: C Hardtman, 90), M Hardtman 7 — D Jones 6. Substitutes not used: Keshun Butterfield, S Jennings. Booked: Mallory, T Butterfield, Richardson, Woolridge.

Referee: D Jackson.