X-Roads 1 Robin Hood 2

X-Roads were left fuming over the sending off of midfielder Tymon Daniels right on half time as they lost first place in the Premier Division with their first defeat at Garrison Field yesterday.

Daniels was already on a yellow card for a foul in the 35th minute and when he fouled Lejaun Simmons in the 45th minute, referee Anthony Francis handed him a second yellow.

X-Roads, already a goal down, were furious at the call which left them without one of their key players for the second half.

“It was absolutely a turning point, we were already playing a quality team and to lose a man, which I didn’t agree with at all, was absolutely unfair,” coach Farid El Karfa said afterwards. “It gave us a disadvantage but as you saw in the second half we stayed strong.”

Hood looked the better team in the first half, wasting a good chance when captain Simmons side-footed over from a good position in the 12th minute before they broke the deadlock midway through the half. Antwan Russell was fouled by goalkeeper Dashun Cooper after racing into the box.

Copper picked up a booking before Russell sent him the wrong way with the spot-kick.

Thompson, who had a quiet first half, had earlier become X-Roads’ first booking, for a foul on fullback Joseph Fereira.

X-Roads’ suffered a setback when left-back Andre Burgess limped off with a hamstring pull and was replaced by Q’Shai Darrell after 33 minutes. Their problems got worst moments before the half when Tyman Daniels was ejected for his second booking, leaving the home team at a disadvantage for the second half.

X-Roads made a tactical change at the start of the second half, bringing on Ardon Heyliger for Jorge Sanchez, though it was Robin Hood who struck again within minutes when Simmons crossed from the right side of the box and Shakir Smith was on hand to head home from close range after the defence failed to clear.

It looked over for X-Roads after that as Hood continued to create chances, with Russell running down the middle onto a through ball before watching the ball roll wide after he steered it around the advancing Cooper.

X-Roads had their best spell of the game in the final 15 minutes, after Ahria Simons’ long range effort was tipped over the bar by goalkeeper Dale Eve.

That chance ignited something in X-Roads who began pushing men forward, hoping to reduce the two goal deficit as they had done against Paget recently.

Substitute Nikye Johnston became their fourth booking when he was carded for a foul on Phil Parsons, an X-Roads player last season. X-Roads scored their goal eight minutes from the end which gave them hopes of a late fightback, Thompson running onto a long ball on the left side of the penalty box and steering his shot past Eve from an angle.

The finish was identical to the goal he scored against Paget in their last game and enabled Thompson to keep up his amazing scoring streak which now stands at a goal in every game in the first half of the campaign, his tally now at 17 in nine games.

“That was a great effort from Donavan which could have changed the game,” El Karfa admits. “It gave us an extra push to create more chances in the last ten minutes.

“That red card let us down today but I’m still really proud of the boys, that we were able to dominate in the last 15 minutes. We created chances and the game could have changed.”

In the end Hood were relieved to hear the final whistle which confirmed the win that moves them ahead of X-Roads in the standings.

“They put pressure on us in the end and it ended up being a good match,” acknowledged John Barry Nusum, the Hood coach. “We needed the three points, we went through the first half undefeated and Robin Hood have never done that before.

“It’s been the same story all season, we’re not putting the chances away early and we’re leaving it so that Donavan gets a late goal and makes it closer than it should have been. It was getting tight in there, a couple of late corners, but in the end we showed character.

“That [Thompson goal] was their first shot on target. Congratulations to him for scoring against every team. For us, I’m happy we got three points out of it.”

SCORERS

X-Roads

Thompson 82

Robin Hood

Russell 25 pen, Smith 48

TEAMS

X-Roads (4-5-1): D Cooper — L Simmons, K Wilkinson, J Furbert, A Burgess (sub: Q Darrell, 33min) — T Daniels, P Richardson, (sub: N Johnston, 70), A Simons, J Sanchez (sub: A Heyliger, 46), A Spencer — D Thompson. Substitutes not used: O Williams, R Beek, T Lowe. Booked: Thompson, Cooper, Daniels, Johnston. Sent off: Daniels.

Robin Hood (4-3-3): Robin Hood (4-3-3): D Eve — J Pereira, J Bather, D Williams, C Castle — A Nelson (sub: C Ryan, 67), P Parsons , T Goater (sub: D Andrade, 86) — A Russell, S Smith , L Simmons. Substitutes not used: T Bean, E Outerbridge, L Symonds, R Wray, C Ricca.

Referee: A Francis.