Young Men’s Social Club 0 X-Roads Warriors 9

Daren Usher and Paul Simons both scored hat-tricks as X-Roads mauled Young Men’s Social Club to make it through to the Dudley Eve Trophy semi-finals at Bernard Park on Sunday night.

This was their second big victory in the competition after their 6-2 win against PHC last week but coach Farid El Karfa remained humble as he looks forward to the next round.

“We were ready for the challenge today,” El Karfa said.

“I wanted to make sure that we kept the same intensity throughout the match which we did. The boys played really well and now we look forward to the challenge in the next round.”

The Warriors attacked from the opening whistle with captain Paul Simons missing a golden opportunity to score early when he was put through before shooting feebly at Social Club goalkeeper Chiquon Smith, who made a save with his foot. However, he would make amends in their next attack with an easy tap-in as Social Club’s defence was exposed.

Social Club replied almost immediately but X-Roads goalkeeper Kamran Harvey beat Keshun Butterfield to a foot chase to block the goalbound effort. That was the only time that Harvey was called into action as he remained a spectator for the remainder of the game.

X-Roads would double their lead when a Simons header deflected off defender Kristian Singh and went beyond the stranded Smith.

The goalscorer became provider for X-Roads’ third goal as he held off his marker to lay the ball into the path of Danavon Thompson who planted his drive past the Social Club goalkeeper.

The captain would score his second and the team’s fourth when he rose unchallenged to nod in Thompson’s corner to close out the half with a 4-0 scoreline.

El Karfa’s side continued the onslaught from the restart. Smith did well to advance and block Thompson’s low drive but the rebound fell to Simons, who lobbed Smith to complete his hat-trick.

Usher would get on the scoresheet for the first time with a long-range effort which struck the back of Jah-nai Smith and sailed over Smith’s head to give X-Roads their sixth.

He scored his second when he squeezed his lob between the goalkeeper and the near post as X-Roads continued to run riot.

Usher completed his hat-trick when substitute Corey Booth played an inch perfect pass into his path before sidestepping the advancing Smith and rolling the ball into the empty net.

Thompson would close out the scoring but not before he was denied by a spectacular one-handed save by Smith, who picked up man-of-the-match honours for Social Club despite the scoreline.

But the striker would get the last laugh when the rebound was played to him to volley home.

Goals

X-Roads Warriors: Simons 10, 36, 53, Singh og 22, Thompson 36, 88, D Usher 60, 76, 81

Teams

Young Men’s Social Club: C Smith, T Woodley, K Singh, B Swan, J Smith, A Matthews, A Wilson, M Wilson, J Hylton, K Smith, K Butterfield. Substitutes: J Johnson, Z Lewis, Q Simmons.

X-Roads Warriors: K Harvey, T Daniels, J Richardson, S Sommer, C Smith, K Douglas, D Usher, K Richardson, D Thompson, A Spence, P Simons. Substitutes: T Talbot, T Mello, C Henry, T Dill, Y Burgess, J Bean, C Booth.

Referee: A Francis