X-Roads 2 Devonshire Cougars 2

Substitute Paul Simons scored in the 90th minute to earn ten-man X-Roads a draw against Devonshire Cougars on Sunday.

Simons, a 60-minute replacement for Kneiko Richardson, struck direct from a free kick. The veteran forward was one of three substitutes to score in the match, with Mosiais Mills restoring Cougars’s lead in the 86th minute. Kydan Browne had opened the scoring in the 62nd minute, while Akim Johnston headed in the first goal for X-Roads in the 77th minute.

X-Roads played the last few minutes of the match a player short after Seth Somner was shown a straight red card in the 88tt minute for reportedly using foul and abusive language towards the match officials.

Simons, who started on the bench as he was struggling with a leg injury, felt like his team deserved all three points

“I’m pleased to go away with a point but it still feels like a loss for us,” the 31-year-old told The Royal Gazette.

“We received a rare red card and we’ve got a big cup game coming up, so it’s still a bit disappointing. I felt that we could have got more out of the match but overall I’m still glad that we at least came away with a point.

“I’m carrying a leg injury and playing through the pain, trying to manage my minutes. So in whatever capacity I can help, I will, but that’s the reason I didn’t play a full match.

“The minutes I played felt pretty good and hopefully I can increase them in the next match. I’ve got a week of training to see if I can push on from there.”

Reflecting on his team’s lean spell, which has seen Farid El Karfa’s side record three draws and two losses in their past five matches, Simons feels his side are struggling for rhythm with injuries and players unavailable.

“Sometimes you’re in form and sometimes you’re not,” he said. “We’re still trying to find the rhythm, battling the constant movement of players coming in and out of the team, as well as injuries.

That’s football sometimes. We’re stringing together a bunch of draws and we’re just missing moments right now.

“We’ll go back to the drawing board, go back to a good week of training and just try to refocus and see if we can turn it around. We don't feel like we’re out of it yet, but of course it’s evident we’re missing our moments.”

Mark Mills, the Cougars coach, was disappointed to miss out on three points for a second match on the spin.

“We got undone by set pieces,” Mills said.

“I think we controlled the game. We achieved our goals but we just didn’t put all our chances away and got undone by the lucky set piece, which was a good goal in the end.

“I’m not happy at all with the point because if we were more efficient with our chances, we could have walked away with an easy three points.

“Half the season is gone and we have one game against Boulevard that we must play, I’m not sure when that will be. Right now it’s all about not losing, picking up as many points as we can.

“If we can find our rhythm, try to go on a nice run as we normally finish the season strong.”

Cougars started off brightly with Chamori Burns charging at goal on the right side in the fifth minute, but Kamran Harvey came off his line to block the effort.

In the 21st minute, Christian Albouy was set up nicely by Domico Coddington, but his shot did not have enough power to give Harvey any challenges. Five minutes later, Zari Simmons had his free kick pushed behind for a corner by the X-Roads goalkeeper.

Six minutes before half-time, Harvey was forced to dive to his right to divert a Burns strike for a corner, while a minute before the break Coddington was given room to have a go at goal, with his effort bouncing off Harvey's chest.

Cougars finally found the target when Browne beat Harvey at the near post with an excellent strike.

Johnston, who was making his first appearance for X-Roads this season, equalised with a header from a cross delivered by fellow substitute, Alaye Darrell.

Somner was then deemed to have fouled Coddington outside the box and was unhappy with the decision. He appeared to utter some words to assistant referee Wendy Woodley, with referee Dwight Jackson reaching for the back pocket when notified of what the player had said.

Mills found the target for his fourth goal of the season from the resultant free kick to give Cougars the lead, which they failed to preserve.

Simons had the last say in the match as he sent the ball over the wall from a free kick on the edge of the box to secure a point for his team.

SCORERS

X-Roads: Johnston 77, Simons 90

Devonshire Cougars: Browne 62, Mills 86

TEAMS

X-Roads (4-3-3): K Harvey 6 — T Dill 6 (sub: A Cajee, 52min 5), C Smith 6, S Somner 5, J Bean 6 — T Daniels 6, S McKittrick 6, A Spencer 6 (A Darrell, 73) — K Richardson 6 (sub: S Simons, 60 6), D Thompson 6, J Lattimore 6 (sub: A Johnston, 60 6). Substitutes not used: R Simmons, C Binnie. Sent off: Somner

Devonshire Cougars (4-2-3-1): Q Darrell 6 — T Tucker 6, M Turner 6, L Millett 6, J Fox 6 — M Thomas 6, Zari Simmons 6 — K Browne 7 (sub: O Smith, 87), D Coddington 6, C Burns 6 — C Albouy 6 (sub: M Mills, 79). Substitutes not used: J Wade, Zion Simmons, N Simmons, C Knight. Booked: Browne

Referee: D Jackson.