Somerset Eagles 3 X-Roads Warriors 4

X-Road Warriors welcomed the new year in enthralling fashion to outscore their host, Somerset Eagles, in a seven-goal thriller at White Hill Field yesterday.

College student, Aaron Spencer was instrumental in the victory as he scored the first and last goal for his team to secure all three points and and move X-Roads into ninth place in the standings.

“It was an excellent game. They fought hard and took a lot out of us,” said Spencer.

“They got the first goal and we had to show some resilience to equalise and then take the lead. We almost slipped up in the end but stayed focused to hold on to earn the victory and the three points.”

The game started at a fast pace and before the Eagles could settle, X-Roads had three attempts on goal but couldn’t find the net. Weak defending allowed Marcus Johnson to sneak into the penalty area but he shot straight at Eagles goalkeeper, Jermaine Rumley.

Within a minute, Rumley had to dive to his right to push a low drive from Jorge Costa around the post for a corner followed by a smart save to deny Costa again as he was put through on the angle.

The Eagles opened the scoring against the run of play. Keedai Astwood got behind the defence and beat the Warriors’ onrushing goalkeeper, TJay Brangman from an angle to curl the ball into the net.

A needless foul by goalkeeper Rumley led to the Warriors’ opener when he upended Johnson from behind as he was dribbling away from goal giving referee Daneon Parchment the easy task of awarding a penalty. Spencer sent Rumley the wrong way with his spot kick.

Spencer should have scored a second when he was on the receiving end of a Costa pass before rounding the advancing goalkeeper but Koshun Durrant did well to continue to recover and cleared the ball off the line in time.

The Warriors took the lead just before the half when Jah-Von Morgan was sent down the right flank. He cut inside and unleashed a low drive that deflected into the net off Rumley’s foot.

The Eagles came out gunning at the start of the second half with two threatening attempts at goal.

A long throw-in was allowed to bounce in the area allowing Dane Simmons to get a shot off on target but hit a defender’s knee for a corner. Within a minute, Astwood was put through but shot straight at goalkeeper Brangman who collected on the second attempt.

Dangerman, Spencer was at it again when he dribbled past his defender and the goalkeeper but his shot was saved off the line from a tracking defender.

The Eagles gifted the Warriors their third goal when defender Khimo Harrison stayed deep in his half to keep Johnson on side. Johnson picked up a through ball and planted his shot beyond the stranded goalkeeper.

Spencer then scored what turned out to be the winner when he collected a loose ball from midfield before dribbling pass the last defender to hit a low drive which beat Rumley.

Credit to the Eagles as they never gave up and found their second when X-Roads skipper Jamin Furbert missed a clearance whilst under pressure to give Dylan Arruda the simple task of poking the ball beyond the advancing goalkeeper.

This seemed to have energised the Eagles as they began to run at the Warriors. Player-coach Jensen Rogers ventured forward and got on the end of a goalmouth scramble to drill his shot hard and low into the corner of the net to score Eagles’ third.

Shakir Smith should have tied the game in the last minute after good build up between Dupray Joell and Rogers put Smith one on one with the goalkeeper but he shot straight at him from eight yards out.

This set up a nail-biting finish as the Warriors had to withstand the constant pressure of five minutes of stoppage time to welcome the referee’s whistle and secure victory.

SCORERS

Somerset Eagles: K Astwood 15, D Arruda 81, J Rogers 88

X-Roads Warriors: A Spencer 19, 70, J Morgan 38, M Johnson 65

TEAMS

Somerset Eagles (4-1-4-1): J Rumley 6 — K Durrant 6, K Harrison 5, J Rogers 6, M Iris-Simmons 5 (sub: D Riley-Clarke) — D Joell 6 — R Woodley-Smith 5 (sub: D Arruda 57, 6), E Fubler 6, D Simmons 6 (sub: A Telford 57, 5), K Astwood 6 (sub: S James 65, 5) — S Smith 6. Substitutes not used: J Roberts, K Evans. Booked: R Woodley-Smith.

X-Road Warriors (4-2-3-1): T Brangman — J Govia 6 (sub: T Lowe 88) , T Daniels 6, J Furbert 5, T Perinchief 5 — J Hardtman 6, M Thomas 6 — J Morgan 6 (sub: J Minks 84), J Costa 6, A Spencer 8 (sub: Z McCarter 75) — M Johnson 7. Substitutes not used: A Daniels, S Burgess.

Referee: D Parchment (Jamaica)