North Village 1 X-Roads 1

Newly promoted X-Roads continued their strong start to the season by coming from behind to grab a draw against champions North Village at Bernard Park on Sunday.

Kahmori Brangman’s 70th minute equaliser cancelled out prolific striker Jonté Smith’s first-half effort, but despite the point stand-in X-Roads coach Thaaqid Talbot, who was deputising as coach Farid El Karfa is off island pursuing his CAF Level A Coaching licence, was not totally pleased with the outcome.

“I feel that was two points lost today,” Talbot said. “We created enough chances in both halves to claim all three points. Overall, I am proud of the boys’ performance as we were missing six starters and I hope we continue to have these types of performances week in and week out to take us where we want to go.”

The game began with the Warriors showing intent and they had success penetrating down the right flank, regularly keeping Village full back Khimo Harrison on his toes and giving him little time to rest.

They had their first threatening attack when captain Paul Simons crossed but striker Donovan Thompson glanced his header inches wide. They nearly scored minutes later when Krishun Douglas’s shot took a deflection off a defender before skimming the crossbar, with Village goalkeeper Detre Bell off his line.

Village, who had Tarik Smith standing in as coach for the suspended Calvin Dill Jr, took a while to settle before mounting two back-to-back attempts of their own with London Steede and Jonte Smith both denied by young X-Roads goalkeeper Kamran Harvey.

X-Roads thought they had scored when Simons chipped the Village defence for Thompson to run onto. His low drive beat Bell but not the upright as the ball hit it flush before bouncing back into play.

After absorbing pressure, Village opened the scoring against the run of play in the 28th minute. Steede slipped a pass inside to Smith, who kept his composure to sidefoot into the bottom left corner beyond the outstretched hand of the X-Roads goalkeeper.

The Warriors took the setback in stride but never eased off. Midfielder Samuel McKittrick was busy throughout the match but lost his composure when he blasted a loose ball from a goalmouth scramble over the top.

Bell was called into action as he would stretch full length to push a powerful Simons header away from goal only for the ball to roll into the path off McKittrick, who again blasted over the top.

Smith should have doubled Village’s lead just before half time but slammed his shot wide after a perfectly weighted pass by Che’kai Caisey.

X-Roads goalkeeper Harvey was called into action early in the second half, making a point-blank save, which he collected on the second attempt from substitute Amir Dill. The resulting clearance by Harvey saw Douglas’s drive force Bell into a fingertip save as Warriors searched for an equaliser.

Their persistence paid off in the 70th minute. The ball was played wide to Brangman, who controlled before beating Bell with a low drive into the bottom left corner from an angle.

The game see-sawed from end to end with both teams searching for a late winner. Smith was put through but shot feebly straight at Harvey and then Rai Sampson saved McKittrick’s goalbound shot off the line to keep the scores level.

With the clock ticking down, captain Bell kept his team in the match with a courageous save as he rushed off his line to spread himself wide and block a Thompson shot after he was put through from a perfectly chipped ball over the top.

At the other end, substitute Pierre Smith could have been the hero but he slammed a loose ball over the top from six yards out and with the last kick of the game, Village substitute Manoj Paynter was positioned on the goal line to deny Thompson’s goalbound header leaving the teams to share the spoils in an entertaining match.

SCORERS

North Village: Smith 28

X-Roads: Brangman 70

TEAMS

North Village (4-2-3-1); D Bell 7 ― K Harrison 6, T Fray 6, R Sampson 6, K Cann 5 (sub: M Paynter, 60min 5) ― T Wiliams 5, S Spence 5 (sub: Q Outerbridge 76) ― L Steede 6 (sub: P Smith, 60 5), C Caisey 6 (sub: K Scott, 76), J Outerbridge 5 (sub: A Dill, 52 5). ― J Smith 7. Substitutes not used: T Tucker, T Outerbridge. Booked: Cann.

X-Roads (4-1-4-1): K Harvey 7 ― J Bean 6, E Abranches 6, C Smith 6, T Dill 6 ― K Douglas 6 ― K Richardson 5, S McKittrick 7, P Simons 7, K Brangman 7 ― D Thompson 7. Substitutes not used: D Teleman, C Smith, A O’Loughin, J Dill, T Adam. Booked: McKittrick.

Referee: M Wyer.