St George’s Colts 1 X Roads Warriors 1

St George’s Colts came from behind to snatch a point against X-Roads Warriors in an evenly fought Premier Division contest at Wellington Oval on Sunday.

X Roads left back Sajan Harvey capitalised on a blunder by St George’s goalkeeper Leo Harris to put the visitors ahead with St George’s stalwart David Signor equalising from the penalty spot to earn the home side a share of the spoils.

The away side’s search for a first league win continues after squandering numerous opportunities and having a penalty saved, much to the frustration of coach Farid El Karfa.

“It’s very disappointing because we were the better team on the pitch and my frustration is that we missed a lot of chances,” he told The Royal Gazette.

“We played good attacking football and created a lot of chances, but we were not clinical in the final third and we just need to get better with that.

“Controlling the game, creating a lot of chances and not finishing is frustrating for me as coach. We were attacking and threatening more but lost the structure defensively and the opposition were able to break through and create a goalscoring opportunity through a penalty.

“It’s the same scenario as last week and we need to get better with that. We should not be allowing these types of comebacks from teams.”

St George’s captain Jarazinho Basset felt his team could have come away with three points had they also taken their chances.

“I feel we could have got a little bit more out of the game but in the end it was a good result for us,” he said.

“We fell behind because of an individual error, but we kept our head down and kept pushing for the equaliser.

“We just keep fighting and going on and I feel for most of the game we played in their half of the field, in their final third.”

The St George’s forward also praised goalkeeper Harris, who pulled off a string of brilliant saves, including a Danavon Thompson penalty, to make amends for his earlier blunder that gifted X-Roads the lead.

“He definitely made up for his mistake and I told him when keepers make a mistake sometimes it’s hard on them because most times it leads to a goal,” he said.

“But he stood up, didn’t drop his head and made a great penalty save that kept us in the game, and we were able to get a goal and claim a good point for us.”

The result leaves St George’s eighth in the standings, a point ahead of ninth place X-Roads, who remain in the relegation zone.

St George's created the first real opportunity of the match when Basset tested X -Roads goalkeeper Kamran Harvey after some good link-up play with striker Jahron Dickinson.

X-Roads responded with Corey Booth side-footing fellow midfielder Kahmori Brangman's inviting cross wide at the back post.

The away side finally broke the deadlock when St George’s stopper Harris spilt right back Tyler Dill’s cross, leaving Harvey with the simple task of slotting the loose ball home from close range.

St George's suffered another setback shortly after when Dickinson went off with a back injury.

Despite losing the services of the veteran player, St George’s went close to equalising when Basset's miscued effort got held up in the wind and bounced on top of the crossbar twice, much to the disbelief of everyone around the ground and relief of X-Roads goalkeeper Harvey.

Both teams created good opportunities just before the interval with X-Roads goal scorer Harvey and Jahkai Brangman, of St George’s, failing to get on the end of inviting crosses in front of goal.

St George’s made a bright start to the second half with Basset’s 35-yard free kick crashed onto the crossbar.

X-Roads were awarded a penalty after Harris rushed off his line and floored Thompson as he attempted to round him.

However, Harris was equal to the task as he tipped Thompson’s penalty onto the bar, with the striker blasting the rebound over.

X-Roads goalscorer Harvey then went from hero to villain after fouling St George’s’ Mitchell Tucker in the area after he was played through by fellow substitute Isaiah Greaves’ defence-splitting pass. Signor made no mistake from 12 yards as he drilled the ball into the roof of the net to add parity to the scoreline.

Substitute Brangman missed a golden opportunity to put St George’s ahead from close range with only Harvey to beat. X-Roads also squandered a huge chance when Brangman scooped Booth’s cutback over the bar from inside the six-yard box.

X-Roads piled on the pressure in search of the winner in the closing stages of the match but were thwarted by Harris, who pulled off a string of saves to help the hosts earn a point.

Scorers

St George’s Colts: Signor 71 pen

X-Roads Warriors: Harvey, 25

TEAMS

St George's Colts: L Harris — J Basset, N Anderson, J Darrell, J Dickinson, K Ottley, C Ottley, N Paynter, Z Richardson, D Signor, R Young. Substitutes: J Brangman, J Carlington, I Greaves, M Paynter, M Tucker

X Roads Warriors: K Harvey — K Brangman, S Harvey, C Booth, J Richardson, C Binnie, C Smith, K Richardson, T Dill, D Thompson, T Daniels. Substitutes: A Darrell, N Foster- Skelton, D Usher, S McKittrick, S Somner, T Ibraheem Talbot, R Simmons.

Referee: A Francis