Dandy Town Hornets 7 X-Roads Warriors 0

Still shaken by the tragic loss of teammate Jahtino Richardson-Martin, the Dandy Town Hornets players managed to lift themselves to a strong 7-0 win over X-Roads Warriors in an emotional Premier Division contest at Goose Gosling Field on Wednesday night.

The 23-year-old, who represented Bermuda at the international level, died in a road accident on November 3, making Wednesday’s assignment the first for Dandy Town, since his passing.

In addition to one minute of silence being observed ahead of kick-off in honour of Richardson-Martin, his number 16 jersey was also worn by his younger brother Jahseiko, who started the match in the holding midfield position for the Hornets.

Town’s players made sure to pay further homage by putting in a clinical performance throughout, putting X-Roads to the sword from the opening whistle.

Four strikes in the first half and a further three in the second, secured the three points for the unbeaten host.

Town opened the scoring in the tenth minute when skipper Angelo Simmons took the ball away from defender Larry Simmons before striking a firm drive beyond the reach of X-Roads’ goalkeeper, TJay Brangman.

The goals kept coming as Oneko Lowe got his name on the score sheet after latching on to a Tomiko Goater through ball before Jomei Bean-Lindo added another directly from a left footed, in-swinging corner.

X-Roads’ Donovan Thompson, Tymon Daniels and a jovial Darian-Scott Woolridge tried to offer some resistance against a focussed Town unit with occasional good touches of the ball but lacked the necessary finishing quality.

Thompson had a crack at goal from 25 yards but the ball sailed inches wide of the upright but it was Simmons who bothered the net again, scoring his second and Dandy Town’s fourth to close out the half with a simple tap-in from a ball knocked back into the centre.

Kamali Davis scored immediately after the restart when he cut in from the right flank to hit a low drive, which nestled in the corner of the net.

While X-Roads almost scored a consolation goal when Thompson beat Town goalkeeper Jaiden Manders from an Adrian Case through pass only for a recovering Bean-Lindo to clear off the line, it was young substitute Matthew Mello-Cann and Goater, who would round out the scoring for Town.

A poor night became even worse for X-Roads, who not only lost heavily, but may also have to do without their most influential player in Thompson, who limped off with a leg injury with two minutes remaining in the match.

“Tonight was definitely about emotions,” stated Town coach Aaron Denkins. “It’s been a tough week and the Dandy Town family really needed this. Our goal is to compete and win for Jahtino.”

SCORERS

Dandy Town: Simmons 10, 41, Lowe 26, Bean-Lindo 34, Davis 47, Mello-Cann 67, Goater 71

TEAMS

Dandy Town Hornets (4-1-4-1): J Manders 5 – E Blankendal 6, S Darrell 6, A Furbert 6 (sub: T Webb, 65min 5), J Bean-Lindo 6 – J Richardson-Martin 6 – O Lowe 6 (sub: M Mello-Cann, 60 6), T Goater 6 (sub: E Swan, 74), N Spence 6, K Davis 6 (sub: D Scraders, 74) – A Simmons 7. Booked: O Lowe.

X-Roads Warriors (4-2-3-1): T Brangman 5 – L Simmons 4, J Furbert 5, C Evans 4 (sub: C McCarter, 65 5), R Beek 4 (sub: J Dawson, 41 6) – T Daniels 7, N Johnston 5 – D Thompson 7, Q Darrell 4 (sub: D Woolridge, 32 6), J Morgan 4 – A Case 5.Booked: McCarter.

Referee: A Francis.