Dandy Town 5 X-Roads 2

Dandy Town notched four second-half goals as they beat X-Roads into submission at St John’s Field yesterday.

Damon Ming had the ball in net midway through the first half but the goal was ruled offside. Both teams continued to battle but they each had only one clear-cut chance at goal for the remainder of the first period.

In the 36th minute, X-Roads’ Andre Burgess unleashed a shot from 15 yards which required a desperation save off the legs of Town goalkeeper Jaiden Manders. Moments later, Town’s Eusebio Blakendal curled his shot inches wide of goal from just outside the area.

Kwame Steede broke the deadlock in the 41st minute when he put his well-placed shot beyond the reach and just inside the left upright of X-Roads goalkeeper Dashun Cooper.

Struggling to find rhythm and consistency up front without their leading scorer, Donovan Thompson, X-Roads lacked any offensive punch, resembling a shell of the team who once led the table early on during the season.

A minute into the second half, Town doubled their lead when Daeshun Butterfield delivered a cross from the wing for Angelo Simmons to tap in at the back post.

X-Roads were able to get themselves back into contention when Teiko Lowe intercepted a poor pass from Manders to slot into an open net in the 51st minute.

Undeterred, Town came buzzing back in the 66th minute to notch their third when Butterfield caught Cooper off his line and lobbed the ball into the goal.

Town scored again in the 69th minute after Simmons got loose, powered his way into the box and rifled in a shot that hit the legs of the goalkeeper en route to the back of the net.

With a three goal cushion, the game was becoming seemingly out of reach for X-Roads.

However, Tymon Daniels had other ideas as he hit a free kick from 35 yards into the roof of the goal in the 85th minute.

Daniels’s effort seemed to interject some momentary life into the X-Roads attack which, up to this point, had been somewhat insipid.

However, X-Roads momentum would prove fleeting as moments later Simmons struck again when he stole a pass out of the X-Roads defence, snaked his way into the area and unleashed a shot past the stranded goalkeeper in the 89th minute.

TEAMS

Dandy Town (3-2-5): J Manders — D Butterfield (sub: N Spence, 70min), K Steede, A Furbert, E Blankendal — D Ming (sub: T Woodley, 70min), O Wilson (sub: T Manders, 45), A Simmons, M Parsons — Emery, S Darrell. Substitutes not used:

N Smith, J Johnson, J Roser.

X-Road (4-1-2-3): D Cooper — J Furbert, K Wilkinson, L Simmons, A Burgess (sub: Ter Lowe, 72) — R Beek, Tei Lowe, T Daniels, P Richardson — J Sanchez (sub: K Talbot, 70), J Minks (sub: M Whalley, 72). Substitutes not used: C Gibbons, T Smith. Referee: L Cann