North Village Rams 3 X-Roads Warriors 0

Two goals in the opening eight minutes put North Village Rams on track to a comfortable victory over winless X-Road Warriors in a match played in rainy conditions at Bernard Park yesterday.

Justin Bell’s fifth-minute penalty and a firm shot from striker Jaizel Smith-DeShields gave Village a 2-0 half time lead before Owen Botelho rounded out the scoring midway through the second half.

Such was Village’s dominance they were able to make five youthful substitutions late in the second half, much to the delight of coach Kenny Thompson.

“We got off to the perfect start with the two early goals but we didn’t build on it, which I thought we should have,” he said. “In the second half, I thought the performance was a lot more positive and intelligent, but we needed to be a bit more clinical in front of goal. Three goals today allowed me to bring on my young players. The only way they are going to develop is by giving them minutes.”

Prior to the start of the match, the players, officials and fans observed a minute of silence in respect of Dandy Town defender Jahtino Richardson-Martin who died in a road traffic collision last Wednesday.

Within minutes of the opening whistle, Village were awarded a penalty. Jalen Harvey’s penetrating ball found Smith-DeShields, who beat the outrushing X-Roads goalkeeper TJay Brangman, only to be brought down from behind. Justin Bell placed his spot-kick to the left of the goalkeeper. Before X-Roads could settle, they went further behind when Bell’s cross was headed back into the centre by Botelho, leaving Smith-DeShields to outrun his marker before slipping the ball past the stranded goalkeeper.

X-Roads’ first and only attempt of the half came from their danger man, Donovan Thompson, who went on a solo effort to beat two players but shot into the side-netting from an angle under pressure from veteran defender Terryn Fray.

Village carried their momentum into the second half with penetrating runs but X-Roads defenders Jamin Furbert and Larry Simmons, in particular, put in timely tackles to deny that final touch.

Thompson was a menace to the Village defence throughout, as he picked up balls deep in his half and made threatening dribbles but lacked the support to put Village goalkeeper Pierre Smith under serious pressure. He thought he had scored in the 62nd minute when his firm drive hit the back of the net after being put through, but the goal was ruled out for offside.

Botelho put the final nail in X-Roads minutes later when he received a diagonal pass before hitting a hard and low drive that went under the diving goalkeeper and into the back of the net.

Despite the loss, X-Roads coach Khomeini Talbot spoke highly of his players. ‘We came up short but I can’t fault the effort,“ he said. ”I felt the guys worked hard but we lacked a little cohesion. We all had a short pre-season but it will come in due time. Unfortunately, we went down 2-0 early to Village, who are a good team but all praise to my team because we never gave up.“

SCORERS

North Village: Bell 5, Smith-DeShields 8, Botelho 64

TEAMS

North Village (4-2-3-1): P Smith 5 (sub: O DeShields, 88min) — J Harvey 6, T Fray 6, M Brangman 5, A Darrell 5 (sub: K Carrington, 82) — V Perinchief 5, T Williams 5 (sub: M Coldwell, 88) — D Daniels 5, O Botelho 6, J Bell 6 (sub: W Shakin, 78) — J Smith-DeShields 6 (sub: S Somner, 82). Substitutes not used: R Probet. Booked: Bell.

X-Roads (4-2-3-1): T Brangman 5 — L Simmons 6, J Furbert 6, N Richardson 5, T Perinchief 5 (sub: J Dawson, 78) — Rico Beek 5 (sub: C Evans, 61 5), A Burgess 6 — Q Darrell 5 (sub: J Lottimore, 46 5), D Thompson 7, A Case 5 (sub: J Morgan 68, 5) — D Woolridge 5 (sub: Z McCarter, 78). Substitutes not used: Ricardo Beek. Booked: Thompson, Woolridge, McCarter.

Referee: A Francis.