X-Roads 4 Young Men’s Social Club 3

X-Roads pushed Young Men’s Social Club closer to the First Division after coming out on top in a seven-goal thriller at St. David’s on Sunday.

Bermuda international Zeiko Lewis’s hat-trick was in vain as the loss, combined with Paget winning 3-1 over Devonshire Cougars, hammered the first nail into Social Club’s relegation coffin.

However, coach Mickey Smith is not giving up hope just yet.

“We had a bad first half where we should have scored more,” said the disappointed Smith.

“We came back strong in the second half and showed a lot of character. It’s unfortunate that we gave away that late goal but we will still be swinging until the last game.”

Knowing that points from this match would be crucial, Social Club started brightly and took a deserved lead in the fifteenth minute. Clay Darrell controlled and played the ball into the path of Lewis, who held off his marker to place a low drive into the bottom right corner of X-Roads goalkeeper Kamran Harvey’s net.

Before the dust could settle, X-Roads equalised when Krishun Douglas met Aaron Spencer’s low driven free kick with a header which bounced into the corner beyond the outstretched hands of Social Club’s stand-in goalkeeper Mical Hardtman.

Goalscorer Douglas then turned provider for X-Roads with some classy footwork. After nutmegging a defender, he pulled the ball back for Spence. His first touch found the onrushing Kneiko Richardson, who volleyed home on the run beyond the stunned Social Club goalkeeper as X-Roads took a 2-1 lead into the interval.

Social Club levelled the score right from the second-half kick-off. From the whistle, the ball was played back to Angelo Matthews, who lobbed the flat-footed X-Roads defence for Lewis to run through uncontested and he stayed composed to sidefoot past a static Harvey.

X-Roads captain Paul Simons was introduced as a substitute and paid immediate dividends with nearly his first touch. His shot struck the upright for Danavon Thompson to tap into the net only to be ruled out for offside.

Simons went one better when he was well-positioned at the back post to control a pass before beating the advancing Hardtman with a low drive into the corner to give his team the lead.

Social Club never rested and levelled the score within five minutes. Giniko Butterfield was given space to lay the ball off to Lewis, who scored his hat-trick with a low drive into the bottom corner.

With the match heading for a draw, Spencer stepped in to settle the tie. Substitute Alaye Darrell found Spencer cutting in from the right before playing a ball into his path for him to control and blast into the net from just inside the box to close out the scoring and bring agony to sink the Angle Street team.

SCORERS

X-Roads: Douglas 20, Richardson 30, Simons 72, Spencer 80

Young Men’s Social Club: Lewis 16, 46, 77

Teams

X-Roads (4-2-3-1): K Harvey 6 ― T Dill 5, E Abranches 5 (sub: J Sousa, 71min), C Smith 5, T Daniels 6 ― K Douglas 6 (sub: C Binnie, 71), S McKittrick 5 (sub: P Simons 62, 7) ― A Spencer 7, K Richardson 6 (sub: A Darrell, 62 6), K Brangman 6 ― D Thompson 6. Substitutes not used: R Simmons, D Thomas, J Dill.

Young Men’s Social Club (4-2-3-1): M Hardtman 6 ― J Smith 6, R Parris 7 (sub: T Butterfield, 76), A Simons 6, K Smith 6 --- A Matthews 6, Z Jennings-Barnett 5 (sub: A Gardner, 66 5) — Z Lewis 8, J Johnston 6, G Butterfield 6 ― C Darrell 6 (sub: A Cannonier, 76). Substitutes not used: K Butterfield, B Swan, M Wilson.

Referee: M Wyer