X-Roads 1 North Village 1

X-Roads came from behind to salvage a point against North Village at Garrison Field yesterday.

Marcelos Thomas scored his second goal in as many games to give the visiting side an early lead, but a second-half strike from Teiko Lowe ensured the game ended in what Village coach Randy Spence thought was a fair result.

“I felt we were the better team in the first half, but their momentum grew as the game went on,” Spence said.

“We lost our shape when they equalised and we should have been a bit more composed, but the team showed good character to fight to the final whistle and come away with a good point on the road.”

X-Roads looked the most dangerous in the early stages, with Paul Simons teaming up with red-hot striker Donavan Thompson, who seemed rather subdued on the day. Both had early looks from decent positions but were unable to find the target.

Village then settled into the match and Tareeko Wilson came close to opening the scoring, when his shot on the turn, rebounded off the upright and back into the hands of goalkeeper Dashun Cooper.

Moments later Village were at it again, and this time would get their reward. After some good work down the right flank, Giniko Butterfield put in a dangerous cross that was met by Thomas, who neatly steered his side-foot effort into the bottom corner.

A few minutes later, Wilson came close again when his long-range effort was tipped over the bar by Cooper who had been caught slightly off his line.

X-Roads had a couple of attacks towards the end of the half, but Village remained resolute in their defending to take their one-goal lead into the interval.

The home side carried their momentum into the second half, and within three minutes had found an equaliser. Simons got on the end of a ball over the top, dribbled into the box while holding off a defender and delivered a perfect pass across the face of goal that was easily tapped in at the back post by Lowe.

The pressure continued to mount as X -Roads were looking particularly dangerous from set pieces. On the hour mark, Simons got on the end of a diagonal free kick, but his goal-bound header was well saved by Detre Bell, who tipped it on to the cross bar. Ten minutes later, Simons was on the end of another free kick from a very similar position and this time his header found the top corner, sending the home fans into frenzy. The goal was disallowed, however, as the referee’s assistant had his flag up for offside.

Village had a few opportunities in the dying minutes, but were not sharp enough in the final moments to snatch a winner.

SCORERS

X-Roads: Lowe 48

North Village: Thomas 26

TEAMS

X Roads: (4-3-3) D Cooper — L Simmons, J Furbert, K Wilkinson, S Thomas (sub: K Brown, 46min) — T Daniels, P Richardson (sub: J Sanchez, 66), N Richardson — T Lowe (sub: K Knights, 57), P Simons, D Thompson. Substituted not used: M O’Brian, K Hamilton, O Williams. Booked: K Wilkinson 64.

North Village: D Bell — J Thomas, T Fray, J Davis, P Castle — J Briers (sub: C Caisey, 67), T Burchall, T Wilson — G Butterfield, P Smith, M Thomas (sub: Z Hendrickson, 77). Substitutes not used: W Shakir, D Dillas, K Knights,

J Smith-DeShields.

Referee: M Wyer.