Dandy Town 1 X-Roads 1

The curtain has closed on X-Roads Warriors’ Premier Division status after a a 1-1 draw with Dandy Town reglated them into the First Division at Goose Gosling Field on Saturday night.

It was a bittersweet moment for Warriors coach Ralph Bean Jr as they equalised late to secure a point but he knew that anything less than a win would condemn his team to the lower division.

“We played well tonight particularly in the first half but Town dominated the second half in terms of trying to kill of the game,” Bean said.

“We stayed in the game and found an equaliser but needed all three points to give us a chance of survival.”.

Bean was pleased enough with his side’s late-season form but felt the damage was done early.

“It took a while for this team to develop into what you see now and I am proud of the way we were competitive in the last four or five matches,” Bean said.

“As a coach you can see the improvement but it came a bit too little, too late. Hopefully, we can rebuild and make a quick return.”

With the relegation door opening, X-Roads refused to go down without a fight and started the game on the front foot, forcing three early corners and a desperate tackle to prevent Aadil Cajee from capitalising on a blocked clearance as the Warriors dominated the opening 20 minutes.

Their high press kept the Hornets off balance and they were unfortunate not to open the scoring when Tomiko Goater misdirected a back pass into the path of Donovan Thompson only for Town goalkeeper Azir Harvey to block his goalbound shot with his foot.

Town took the lead against the run of play with midfielder Daniel Cook holding off his marker while dribbling forward to slip a pass to Cecoy Robinson. His pull back found captain Angelo Simmons in the middle of the park for an easy tap-in past the rooted Warriors goalkeeper Q’Shai Darrell.

Simmons should have scored a second moments later but squandered Eusebio Blankendal’s square pass with the goal at his mercy as the half came to a close.

Shortly after the restart, a Cook free kick to the back post found Robinson but he would head straight at Darrell who was well positioned. Minutes later Robinson blasted over from a Simmons’ cross as Town pressed to double their lead. The energetic Cook got off a piledriver but Darrell was equal to the task with a full-length dive to push the shot around the post , while substitute Nizigh Spence should have scored with his first touch from the resulting corner but headed wide from two yards.

Teiko Lowe thought he had found the equaliser for the Warriors midway through the half from his inswinging corner only for Danté Leverock to head off the line.

Cajee did well to advance forward from his centre back position to thread a pass to Thompson who cut inside before unleashing a low shot which squeezed into the bottom right corner of Harvey’s net to level the scores with time running down.

The Warriors battled for a winner but could not penetrate the Town defence marshalled by former Bermuda captain Leverock.

Scorers:

Dandy Town: A Simmons 35

X-Roads Warriors: D Thompson 84

Teams

Dandy Town Hornets (4-2-3-1): A Harvey 6 — E Blankendal 6 (sub: A Lewis, 78min), E Moore 6, D Leverock 7, A Furbert 6 — T Webb 6, D Cook 8—-A Simmons 7 (sub: K Sharrieff-Hayward, 87), T Goater 6 (sub: N Spence, 61) E Outerbridge 5— C Robinson 6. Substitutes not used: D Johnson, K Brangman, Q Watson.

X-Roads Warriors (4-1-4-1): Q Darrell 6 — D Teleman 6, A Cajee 7, T Daniels 7, A Matthews 6— S Somner 6 (sub: T Whited, 84) — A Johnston 6, K Richardson 6, D Woolridge 6 (sub; A Spencer, 54 5), Teiko Lowe 6 (sub: C Whited ,84) — D Thompson 7. Substitutes not used: J Dill, Terrencio Lowe. Booked: Thompson, Cajee, Johnston.

Referee: A Francis