X-Roads 6 PHC 2

X-Roads made an emphatic return to competitive action with Danavon Thompson and Paul Simons both scoring hat-tricks in a rout of PHC in the Dudley Eve Trophy at Devonshire Recreation Club on Sunday.

After Simons had completed his feat in the first half and Thompson matched that effort in the 74th minute, Warriors head coach Farid El Karfa expressed his delighted with the performance.

“For the first 70 minutes, we played very well,” he said. “I was a bit surprised with Danavon Thompson’s fitness and he showed a lot of character. I wasn’t expecting as much from him for the first game.

“I was very pleased with our performance today and we’ll take it one game at a time but we started really well today.”

X-Roads dominated the first half and were 5-0 up at the interval after easily playing through the disjointed PHC press, with the tone set early as Thompson forced a reflex save by PHC keeper Quinaceo Hunt in the opening moments.

Simons, a former PHC player, would haunt his former team with a neat finish to open the scoring. After being picked out by veteran Christian Smith, Simons lobbed Hunt who had rushed off his line.

The experienced forward had the freedom of the attacking third for the majority of the game and added to his tally when Tymon Daniels picked him out with a fantastic through pass midway through the first half before Simons finished into the near post.

PHC defender Kadeem Abraham was struggling and was replaced by Eusebio King-Mills, but the whole defence never got to grips with the Warriors attack. X-Roads were not even bothered by Simons missing a penalty after Naeem Griffith stuck out a leg and brought him down inside the box.

Warriors then turned on the style in the space of four minutes. Jarye Bean clipped a great ball into the back post for Thompson to head back into the path of Simons to complete his hat-trick, killing the contest in the 33rd minute.

A minute later, Kneiko Richardson found Thompson to get his account going and the striker then scored the goal of the match, showing beautiful skill to beat King-Mills and fellow PHC defender Sakari Lewis before finishing in the near post.

X-Roads wanted to inflict further embarrassment on their youthful opponents and Daniels nearly pulled off a spectacular effort from distance, but Hunt was equal to it with his second reflex stop of the game just before the hour.

PHC earned themselves a penalty midway through the second half, with Tristen Davis feeding a good pass into Nasje Brockington, who flicked into space for Joshua Joseph. The right winger beat Jakida Richardson, who took him down just inside the box. Joseph showed composure to send X-Roads goalkeeper Kamran Harvey the wrong way to grab the black and white stripes a consolation.

X-Roads substitute Yeshai Burgess, who also spent two seasons with PHC, squared for Thompson to complete his hat-trick in the 74th minute before PHC substitute Killian Elkinson completed the scoring two minutes from time.

In the other Dudley Eve Trophy game last night, Devonshire Cougars beat Paget Lions 3-2.

Scorers

X-Roads: Simons 15, 20, 33; Thompson 34, 37, 74

PHC: Joseph 67 pen, Elkinson 87

TEAMS

X-Roads: K Harvey, S Harvey, C Booth, J Bean, K Richardson, J Richardson, D Thompson, C Smith, D Usher, P Simons, T Daniels. Substitutes: R Simmons, S Somner, J Warren-Smith, A Spencer, Y Burgess, K Brangman, K Douglas.

PHC: Q Hunt, E Russell, K Abraham, N Griffith, S Lewis, Z Lee, J Joseph, T Davis, N Brockington, J Butterfield, D Cook. Substitutes: K White, S Burrows, K Elkinson, J Hassell, E King-Mills, R Kunze, T Place.

Referee: D Jackson