Dandy Town 2 X-Roads Warriors 0

If Dandy Town are to win the Premier Division they will have goalkeeper Jahquil Hill to thank after his brilliant display against a gutsy X- Roads Warriors kept their title charge on track at White Hill Field on Sunday.

The experienced stopper made a string of huge saves at crucial stages to preserve a clean sheet and more importantly help his team secure another vital three points in an even contest that could have gone either way.

Goals either side of the break from the prolific David Jones Jr and livewire substitute Enrique Swan broke X-Roads’ resistance. However, things might have panned out entirely different had it not been for Hill’s agility and awareness between the posts.

“It wasn’t easy with the chances X-Roads had,” Hill told The Royal Gazette.

“They got in behind a good bit and had a lot of chances, but I held my own, tried to keep us in the game and we ended up getting the W.”

Hornets coach Jarreau Hayward was happy to come away with the points but stressed that the job is not done just yet.

“This is massive but we still have football to be played,” he said.

“We just have to recover ourselves and enjoy the couple of weeks that we have before we play St George’s and just be ready to play on that last day.”

Town blew hot and cold throughout the match but defended superbly and took their chances well to finally see off a stubborn X-Roads side that deserved to come away with something to show for their effort.

“I was really happy with the first half but the second we need to be better,” Hayward said.

“We have to expect that teams are going to come and make adjustments at the half. So we just need to counter their adjustments and keep playing our football; understand where the spaces are and expose them.”

With Town clinging to a one-goal advantage as a relentless X-Roads bombarded their goal, Hayward rolled the dice and brought on former captain Angelo Simmons.

The gamble paid off as the experienced player provided the cross that led to Swan’s late strike that effectively put the game beyond the visitors’ reach.

“We were really happy with the guys when they came on as they brought the energy and combined to score, so can’t ask for anything better,” Hayward said.

Swan, who also struck the woodwork, entered the fray two minutes after the restart after Tomiko Goater went off with a slight groin pull but Hayward expects his influential captain to regain fitness before Hornets’ league finale against St George’s.

“Goater was precautionary and should have more than enough time to recover, so he should be ready by the next match,” he said.

Hornets came out swinging and dominated the early exchanges.

X-Roads gradually grew into the match and after taking charge of the middle of the park began creating chances of their own, with Hill going full stretch to palm away Aaron Spencer’s effort and then tipping Kahmori Brangman’s piledriver over the bar.

Jones, the league’s top scorer, broke the deadlock against the run of play with his sixteenth goal of the season in clinical fashion. The powerful striker latched onto Goater’s defence piercing pass and kept his cool as he rounded the advancing Kamran Harvey and slotted home from an angle.

X-Roads were gifted a golden opportunity when they were awarded an indirect free kick inside Town’s six-yard box after Hill dropped the ball and picked it back up, but defensive midfielder Tymon Daniels dragged his effort wide to preserve Town’s lead at the half.

Hill was called into action again shortly after the restart and Goater’s unscheduled departure to make back-to-back saves to deny James Morrison.

He also had go full stretch to save Spencer’s angled blast while Town right back Lejuan Simmons was in the right place at the right time to clear away Danavon Thompson’s dangerous low cross with captain Paul Simons tracking at the back post.

Town went close to doubling their lead when Swan wriggled his way into the box and curled a shot onto the far post. However, he would not be denied moments later when he tapped in Simmons’ low cross from close range to finally kill the game off.

X-Roads coach Farid El Karfa hailed his team’s display despite coming up short.

“I am proud of my team’s effort,” he said.

“Things did not go our way but I really give credit to my team. They gave everything, they showed good character, good fight and we played very, very well.

“We created a lot of chances of chances but unfortunately could not translate them into goals. But in my opinion the score definitely does not reflect our performance and I don’t think we deserved to lose.”

Scorers

Dandy Town: Jones, 35, Swan 84

Teams

Dandy Town (4-1-4-1): J Hill 8 — T Webb Jr 7, Y Ramirez 7, D Leverock 7, L Simmons 7 — E Moore 7 - N Spence 6 (sub: D Daniels, 65min 6), L Outerbridge 6, T Goater 7 (sub: E Swan, 48 8), K Davis 7 (sub: R Robinson, 74 7) — D Jones Jr 7 (sub: A Simmons, 74 7). Booked: Spence. Substitutes not used: A Harvey, E Outerbridge

X- Roads (4-2-3-1): K Harvey 7 — T Dill 6, E Joao Abranches 5 (sub: C Binnie, 46 7) S Somner 6, C Smith 6 - T Daniels 6, J Morrison 7 — K Brangman 7, A Spencer 7, D Thompson 7 — P Simons 7. Booked: Simons. Substitutes not used: R Simmons, K Richardson, A Davis, A Darrell.

Referee: T Derry (Trinidad)