Young Men’s Social Club 3 X-Roads 3

Young Men’s Social Club came from three goals down in the last ten minutes to gain the unlikeliest of draws against title-chasing X-Roads.

Clay Darrell came off the bench to score twice late for the home side at Police Field on Saturday afternoon after X-Roads had dominated most of the game, going in three goals to the good at half time.

Social Club felt the absence of their injured talisman Zeiko Lewis, struggling to string more than five passes together and making numerous mistakes in dangerous areas, one of which led to the X-Roads opening goal.

New Bermuda international Danavon Thompson pounced on slow decision-making by Amon Simons, took one stride and slid his finish under goalkeeper Ryan Evans.

X-Roads continued the press throughout the first half and they doubled their lead within ten minutes. Thompson stripped Mical Hardtman of the ball in the penalty box and fired a powerful shot to force a reflex save out of Evans, but full back Tyler Dill was in the right place to sidefoot the rebound into the roof of the net.

Just before the interval Thompson looked to have killed the game after pouncing on a poor pass by Evans and slotted into the opposite corner from about eight yards.

Social Club knew they had to do something drastically different to change the momentum of this battle and midfielder Angelo Matthews was replaced by Darrell as the home side began to switch things up.

The first ten minutes of the second half were largely a tussle for possession and tempo as the game entered an extended lull. Social Clubcould have pulled one back just before the hour when Jinairo Johnston was fed in space on the right. He turned inside and laid back for Kimshun Smith, but the defender sliced his effort wide.

Darrell nearly made something out of nothing midway through the half, but he could not direct his header on target from Malique Wilson's cross. The home side were starting to exert dominance, so Warriors introduced Jaman Lottimore as an outlet and attacking force in transition. He was largely ineffective but had one or two speculative efforts from distance, which failed to trouble Evans.

With 20 minutes remaining, Warriors replaced regular goalkeeper Kamran Harvey with back-up Chiquon Smith and that was the catalyst for the Social Club comeback, along with the introduction of Terron Butterfield, who added some important aggression and composure to their midfield.

Social Club finally pulled one back eight minutes from time, with Brighton Swan Jr getting the attack moving. Johnston collected the forward pass and slipped Darrell in one-on-one with Smith and the forward finished low with the outside of his boot into the far corner.

The home side pulled within one goal less than a minute after their first strike, with Terron Butterfield racing towards the goal line to retrieve a forward ball by captain Ryan Parris. Warriors goalkeeper Smith parried his cross straight to Darrell, who slid the ball past the diving Smith, who tried to make up for his blunder.

Social Club defender Callon Che Woolridge was throw on to cause chaos to the visiting defence and he did just that. Mical Hardtman clipped a perfect free kick to Parris at the back pos, and the captain headed square for Johnston to nod home their third goal in an amazing final ten minutes to complete an amazing comeback.

Scorers

Young Men's Social Club: Darrell 83, 85; Johnston 90+2

X-Roads: Thompson 23, 44; Dill 30

TEAMS

Young Men’s Social Club (4-2-3-1): R Evans 6 — J Smith 5, M Hardtman 7, A Simons 5, K Smith 6 — R Parris 5, A Matthews 5 (sub: C Darrell, 58min 8) — M Wilson 6 (sub: B Swan Jr, 65 6), G Butterfield 5 (sub: T Butterfield, 65 7), J Johnston 6 — J Hardtman 6 (sub: C Woolridge 83).

X-Roads (4-1-4-1): K Harvey 6 (sub: Chiquon Smith, 70 4) — Christian Smith 6, E Abranches 5, A Cajee 6 (sub: J Sousa, 70), T Dill 6 — T Daniels 6 — K Richardson 6 (sub: J Lottimore, 58 5), K Douglas 6, S McKittrick 6, K Brangman (sub: J McFrisen, 58 6); Substitutes not used: R Simmons, A Darrell. Booked: Douglas, Dill.

Referee: D Jackson