X-Road Warriors 6 Boulevard Blazers 1

X-Roads booked their place in the quarter-finals of the Dudley Eve Trophy with an emphatic 6-1 victory over Boulevard Blazers at Devonshire Recreation Field on Saturday night.

With Somerset losing to group B winners PHC in the opening encounter of double header, both teams knew whoever came out on top of encounter would also advance to the next phase.

Ultimately it was X-Roads who prevailed in emphatic fashion with a second half hat-trick from Donovan Thompson, combined with a brace from Jaman Lottimore and a header from Chae Brangman sealing progression.

Blazers captain, Jerome Bailey denied the shut-out with a well taken goal to close out the scoring.

“We had a good performance tonight,” said Warriors’ Coach, Ralph Bean Jr. “We talked about staying disciplined and focused in the dressing room.

“Knowing the score from the first game gave us more motivation to play and we took our chances. Now that we have qualified, the work is just starting.”

The Warriors started on the front foot and took the game to their opposition. T

hey went ahead early when goalkeeper Azir Harvey and one of his defenders collided whilst going for a cross leaving Lottimore with the easy task of tapping into an empty net.

Blazers should have equalised within minutes as Jahzandae Samuels, who had been a threat the entire game, danced his way into the box only for Tyman Daniels to block his goalbound effort.

X-Roads doubled their lead midway through the half as Brangman connected with a thunderous header inside the six-yard box leaving Harvey with no chance.

The next two chances fell to the Blazers as a chipped ball over the defence found Samuels whose shot was blocked by the Warriors goalkeeper Q’Shai Darrell who otherwise had a quiet game.

Blazers kept pressing looking for an opener and thought they had it when Sergio Woolridge hit a smashing volley only to rattle the crossbar and bounce back in play.

The brittleness of Blazers’ defence showed again when Thompson found Lottimore unmarked and his low drive nested into Harvey’s right corner.

Both teams nearly scored within minutes of the start of the second half with Kamali Davis setting up Samuels to get off a shot that was blocked by X-Roads’ captain Jamin Furbert, while at the other end Kahmori Brangman forced Harvey to go full length to push his chipped shot over the top followed by a diving save to deny Furbert’s header from the resulting corner.

Boulevard gifted the Warriors their fourth goal when captain Bailey’s attempted clearance sliced of his boot and went backwards and over the head of his onrushing goalkeeper leaving Thompson to pounce on the loose ball and score uncontested.

The striker showed his dribbling skills to score his second as he snaked along the goal line leaving two defenders in his wake before beating Harvey at his near post with a low drive.

Thompson then closed out his scoring after coming back deep to pick up the ball before hitting another low drive from just inside the box to complete his hat-trick and the team’s sixth.

Boulevard captain Bailey scored a consolation goal when he ventured forward on a rare attack before unleashing a low drive from just outside the box to beat the outstretched arms of a diving Darrell.

SCORERS

X-Road Warriors: J Lottimore 4, 44, C Brangman 27, D Thompson 52, 70, 75

Boulevard Blazers: J Bailey 77

TEAMS

X-Roads Warriors (4-1-3-2): Q Darrell 6 ― T Lowe 6, J Furbert 6, D Teleman 6, R Simmons 6 ―T Daniels 6 (sub: J Dill 87) ― K Brangman 6, D Simons 6 (sub: J Morgan 78), J Lottimore 8 ― C Brangman 7, D Thompson 8 (sub: A Wilson 76). Substitutes not used: R Have. Booked: T Daniels.

Boulevard Blazers (4-2-1-3): A Harvey 5 ― E Zuill 6, J Bailey 7, J Williams 6, A Famous 5 ― Q Maynard 5, N Smith 6 ― J Samuels 7 ― S Woolridge 6 (sub: T Walker-Samuels 56, 5), K Davis 6, T Taylor 5 (sub: C Darrell 36min, 6). Substitutes not used: K McQueen, N Augustus. Booked: J Bailey, C Darrell, Q Maynard.

Referee: A Majors