X-Roads Warriors 1 Paget Lions 1

X-Roads Warriors and Paget Lions shared the spoils after battling to a stalemate in a lively Premier Division encounter at Lord’s, in St David’s.

Charles Whited gave X-Roads the lead in the 37th minute but their advantage was short-lived as Paget forward Ryan Lopes equalised just two minutes later.

Both teams created ample opportunities to come away victorious but were left to rue poor finishing throughout a heated affair, which featured referee Tashun Simons dishing out eight bookings, four to each team.

“I think we created enough chances in the first half and, when we didn’t get those that’s why we went in at 1-1,” X-Roads coach Ralph Bean Jr told The Royal Gazette.

“I felt we probably should have went in on top. “To be fair they missed two chances themselves in the second half so I guess a draw was a fair result.

“I feel it was a tale of two halves and the wind was a real factor. It was to our advantage in the first half and then obviously to our disadvantage in the second. I don’t think we adjusted well enough so it was probably a fair point if you look at it from both halves.”

Paget coach Antwan Russell felt his team was deserving of more than a share of the spoils.

“I am a little disappointed with the result to be honest,” Russell said.

“We were a little wasteful in front of goal today. I told the guys what type of game it was going to be against a team fighting for their life, so it’s never going to be easy.

“In those situations you have to control your emotions, and I don’t feel we did that well in the first half.

“The second half, I can’t complain, but the first half was definitely below par for my boys.”

Both teams were hit with injuries during the game as X-Roads lost captain Donavan Thompson in the 81st minute with a suspected pulled hamstring shortly before Warriors defender Josef Smith and Paget substitute Senoj Mitchell were taken off after a clash of heads.

Paget played the final minutes a man short with Russell having used his quota of substitutions and the coach revealed that he was taking no chances with a head injury.

“He was adamant that he was OK to play and trying to go back on, but I am not messing around with anybody’s head,” Russell said.

“If I ask someone to go out there and run around in those circumstances, then it means I don’t care about them and I couldn’t do that. I would rather lose the game than lose a player.”

Smith came off worse from the clash as he left the pitch with his head heavily bandaged.

“It was safety first,” Bean said. “It didn’t make any sense trying to push him and was the right thing to do.”

As for the nature of Thompson’s injury, Bean added: “We don’t know right now, but we will figure it out.”

With the wind at their backs, X-Roads applied early pressure but nearly fell behind when Paget midfielder Zaire Weller’s high punt upfield from near the halfway line held up in the breeze before dropping on to the crossbar.

Paget eventually grew into the game but were initially let down by poor finishing from Lopes who miskicked Shentoine Lambert’s inviting cross from the right with the first clear-cut chance of the match.

End-to-end action followed with X-Roads midfielder Aaron Spencer having a shot saved by Paget goalkeeper Omari DeShields, while Thompson curled his effort over the bar after being played through on goal by Kneiko Richardson’s defence-splitting pass.

X-Roads finally made the breakthrough when midfielder Whited exchanged passes with Thompson on the edge of the box before firing into the bottom right corner past the partially blinded DeShields.

However, Paget were back on even terms before the dust had settled as Lopes rose to powerfully head home Kyjah Simons’s corner.

X-Roads then squandered another golden opportunity to regain the lead when midfielder Akim Johnston blasted over in a goalmouth scramble right on the half-time whistle, with Warriors also failing to capitalise on good opportunities in the second half when Richardson dragged his effort wide and defender Aadil Cajee fired over the bar from close range.

Paget’s best chance of the second half fell to Omari Tucker, who brought off an excellent save from X-Roads goalkeeper, substitute Peter Silvester, after a counter attack deep in stoppage time.

Scorers

X-Roads Warriors: Whited 37

Paget Lions: Lopes 39

TEAMS

X-Roads Warriors (4-1-4-1): Q Darrell 6 (sub: P Silvester, 46min 7) – A Cajee 7 (sub: O Williams, 90), T Daniels 7, J Sousa 7, J Smith 7 (sub: A Matthews, 90) – K Richardson 7 – A Spencer 7, A Johnston 7, J Lottimore 7, C Whited 7 (sub: S Somner, 61 7) – D Thompson 7 (sub: D Woolridge, 81). Substitutes not used: T Lowe, R Beek. Booked: Smith, Spencer, Johnston, Somner.

Paget Lions (4-4-2): O DeShields 7 – S Lambert 7, J Carpenter 7, J Stovel 7, K Simons 6 (sub: K Durrant, 63 7) – Z Weller 6 (sub: S Mitchell, 63 7), R Furbert 7, T Davis 7 (sub: K Davis, 46 6), D Hart 6 – R Lopes 7 (sub: A Grant, 81), D Rawlins 6 (sub: O Tucker, 75). Substitutes not used: K Hypolite, M Wade. Booked: Simons, T Davis, Rawlins, Durrant.

Referee: T Simons.