Farid El Karfa, the X-Roads coach, pointed the finger at the officiating for his team’s demise in their Friendship Trophy quarter-final clash against Dandy Town at St John’s Field yesterday.

The visitors had two goals flagged for offside and a strong argument for a penalty denied before Angelo Simmons, the Town captain, pounced on a defensive error to settle a scrappy affair neither side dominated.

“How can you win matches if the refs keep making these calls?” El Karfa vented. “That was two goals and a penalty.

“None of the two goals were offside and then he [referee] gives a free kick when it was definitely a penalty inside the area.

“We played against a very tough opponent, but I feel we deserved to win. Dandy Town were very solid and quality, but we looked solid as well.

“We competed, we fought and played very well, but when you get three goals denied how can you win matches?”

Devarr Boyles, the Town coach, was happy to see his team advance to the last four, but admitted their performance was far from top quality.

“My team didn’t play the match, they played the opponent,” he said.

“You have to have a calm mind in order to play and I thought we were too emotional. I guess based on the last result against X-Roads probably had a lot to do with it.

“We just never settled. We never got an opportunity to play and lucky for us we got a goal.”

Town’s victory came at a cost as goalkeeper Treadwell Gibbons Jr and goal scorer Simmons both went off injured either side of the interval.

Gibbons injured his knee gathering K’wonde Lathan’s poor back header under pressure from X-Roads striker Donavan Thompson in the fifth minute of the match while Simmons injured in his ankle late in the second half.

“Lucky for us we have four goalkeepers, so I don’t see that being an issue,” Boyles said. “Angelo is one of the big fish so we’ll just have to find a way.

“He is the leading goalscorer at the club for the last three years, so if he is injured it will be a miss. But we have to assess him and seven days is a long time.”

X-Roads went into the cup-tie with a psychological edge having thrashed Town 6-0 in a Premier Division clash at Garrison Field in November.

Town came charging out of the blocks, but nearly shot themselves in the foot with Gibbons sacrificing his body to gather Lathan’s weak back header.

X-Roads gradually grew into the match and looked to have earned a penalty when Lathan tripped up X-Roads danger man Thompson in the area.

However, referee Garic Swainson instead awarded a free kick on the edge of the box which was blocked by the Town wall that held firm.

Town took the lead amid a good spell by the visitors who gifted their hosts a goal on a silver platter.

An alert Simmons intercepted Larry Simmons’s intended back pass to goalkeeper Dashun Cooper, and slotted into an empty net.

X-Roads came storming right back and looked to have made an immediate response when Thompson scored at the other end, only to have the goal ruled offside.

The striker threatened again shortly after with a shot which rolled inches wide of the far post and then assisted in team-mate Paul Simons’s goal which was also ruled offside.

Town made a promising start to the second half with Cooper rushing off his line to gather Simmons’s dangerous pass into the box before also denying Michael Parsons.

X-Roads pressed for an equaliser, but could not find a way past substitute goalkeeper Jaiden Manders who made two late saves to deny Kion Knight and substitute Kyle Hamilton to seal Town’s progression.

SCORERS

Dandy Town 1

Simmons 27

X Roads 0

Dandy Town (4-4-2): T Gibbons (sub: J Manders, 5 mins) - K Lathan, T Manders, K Wade (sub: K Simmons, 63), E Blankendal - L Emery, S Darrell, M Parsons, D Ming - K Steede, A Simmons (capt) (sub: J Swan, 75). Substitutes J Richardson-Martin, Z Burchall, N Spence, D Millett.

X Roads (4-4-2): D Cooper - A Simons, J Furbert, K Wilkinson (capt), L Simmons - R Beek (sub: K Hamilton, 46 mins), P Richardson, P Simons, K Knight (sub: S Thomas, 72 mins) - T Perinchief, D Thompson. Substitutes not used: Teiko Lowe, Terencio Lowe, Q Darrell, O Williams.

G Swainson.