X-Roads 4 St George’s 1

X-Roads Warriors all but secured their Premier Division status with an impressive 4-1 win over relegation-threatened St George’s at St David’s on Sunday.

A brace from captain Paul Simons, an opportunist strike from poacher Danavon Thompson and an own goal from visiting goalkeeper Troy Hall Jr gave the Warriors three crucial points to help move them away from the dreaded relegation zone but consign St George’s to a battle to stay up.

X-Roads coach Farid El Karfa was delighted his side snapped a recent losing streak.

“We played very well today,” El Karfa said.

“This was some of the best attacking football I’ve seen from my team for quite a while. We created a lot of chances and the movement up front was really good. We were able to put our chances away, which has been a problem for us previously.

“To secure the three points is a bit of a relief as I was concerned about dropping points today. If we had lost, then we would have been in another zone but the result was positive so I am happy and looking forward to the next game.”

The match started evenly with both teams taking some time to settle. X-Roads started to stamp their authority and took a deserved lead courtesy of an own goal.

St. George’s goalkeeper Troy Hall Jr went airborne to collect a cross only to be bumped by his own defender, which caused him to fumble and carry the ball over the goalline. This was confirmed by the assistant referee, who was well positioned to make the call after consultation with referee Martin Wyer.

Captain Paul Simons set up X-Roads’ second goal on the half-hour mark when he struck a low drive, which Hall did well to parry but Thompson was first to the loose ball and tucked it into the goal.

After a stern half-time talk by coach Drewonde Bascome, St George’s picked up the tempo from the start of the second half, with Malachi Trott blazing a free kick over the top.

That was followed by a good build-up through the midfield involving Trott and brothers Blaiz and Kashe Hall, which resulted in the latter’s shot beating X-Roads goalkeeper Chiquon Smith but defender Jarye Bean threw his body in the way to deflect the effort away from danger.

Persistence paid off for St George’s and they reduced the deficit to one when Liam Evans scored a powerful header from a Jahron Dickinson cross. X-Roads defender Edivaldo Joao Abranches tried unsuccessfully to stop the ball from going into the net with his hand, with the goal being allowed and Abranches cautioned.

St George’s pushed for an equaliser and thought they had scored when substitute Maquel Nisbett-Tankard flicked a cross towards goal only for the X-Roads goalkeeper to make a reflex save as the ball was about to cross the goalline.

X-Roads released the pressure with a third goal when captain Simons rose highest to head powerfully past Hall despite his diving effort. The captain would then close out the scoring after a good give-and-go with Thompson before heading past Hall from close range.

SCORERS

X-Roads: Hall og 27, Thompson 30, Simons 85, 88

St George’s: Evans 75

Teams

X-Roads (4-2-3-1): Chiquon Smith 6 ― J Bean 6, E Abranches 6, Christian Smith 6, T Daniels 6 ― S McKittrick 5 (sub: R Simmons, 72min), K Douglas 5 ― A Spencer 5, P Simons 8, K Brangman 6 ― D Thompson 7. Substitutes not used: A Darrell, T Dill, K Richardson. Booked: Daniels, Abranches.

St. George’s Colts (3-5-2): T Hall Jr 5 ― N Paynter 5 (sub: B Hall, 46 6), L Evans 6, J Schroder 5 ― C Neal 6 (sub: M Nisbett-Tankard, 46 6), R Phipps 5, K Hall 6, M Trott 6, R Soutter 6 ― J Dickinson 6, L Lewis 5. Substitutes not used: I Greaves, M Tucker. Booked: Paynter, Phipps.

Referee: Martin Wyer