X-Roads 5 Dandy Town 2

X-Roads captain Donavan Thompson scored four and provided an assist to steer his side to their first Premier League victory of the season yesterday.

Thompson, 29, has now scored seven goals this season and was on target twice in each half as Ralph Bean Jr’s side finally tasted victory after six defeats in a row.

X-Roads had picked up just a point, secured in a 1-1 draw with Somerset Trojans on October 16 and started the game bottom but their victory was a fourth loss of the season for Town, who got their goals from Allan Martin and Amar Lewis.

Thompson, the league’s golden boot winner with 18 goals last season was delighted by the team’s showing.

“I'm very pleased with the team’s performance,’’ Thompson said. “I'm happy with the boys and four goals on the day, so I’m very happy. Everybody did their job today.

“It feels good to get the three points as it’s been a very hard season for us. This is our first win and we just want to build on it and try to get more points.

“I think we can turn it around. I still have belief and it’s still a long season so we’ll see what we can do.

“I just want the guys to stick to the objective, work hard at training and see what we can do.

“I actually had a hard morning before this game, so it’s nice to relieve that. We’re still trying to figure things out within the training camp, with the chopping and changing every week caused by injuries and suspensions.

“We’re now ready for any challenge that we’re up against. These guys aren't giving up so we’re still fighting until the very end.”

Bean had some praise for Thompson for his splendid display throughout the 90 minutes.

“He is who he is and I just reminded him that there’s a level that he’s set for himself,’’ Bean said.

“He should never forget that. When he does play like he normally does, he is a handful. Credit to him, that was a winner’s performance there.”

Since they are out of the remaining knockout competitions, the next league match for X-Roads is against Paget on January 8 and Bean wants to use the break to work with his side.

“We started out and came out the right way,” Bean added. “We’ve been struggling to start our games but I think we did this time. We followed the game plan better than we have in the past.

“This was the first win of the season and sometimes it takes a little bit of time. It’s a new team again, it seems every season we end up with a totally new team, and it’s taken a little bit of time to figure out who plays where, who does what and for the team to know each other.

“I think that was a big factor and in the last couple of weeks I’ve seen the evidence, and this is the first we've turned it into a result.

“We cant get overzealous with this win, we have to stay humble and know that we still have a lot of work to do.

“We haven’t done anything yet, in fact we still have a lot of work to do. In this little break period, we’ll put in more work to try to keep the players in shape.

“We’re well aware we’re not a complete product yet and we have to keep on working, that’s the end goal.”

Town president Devarr Boyles, who coached the team in the absence of Aaron Denkins, was so disheartened by the defeat that he gave the players a lengthy lecture after the match.

“When we’re not matching our opponents physically, it’s a cause for concern,’’ Boyles said.

“These are real trials and tribulations that the team is facing. We have to find the solutions and the players have to put their hands up and show up for training.

“There have been a few such performances, but what disappointed me is that there was no evidence of what we've been working on at training. Towards the end, maybe they put in a little bit of effort.

“We are a team, we don’t blame anyone and we have to stick together, but some of the errors we’re making are self-inflicted.

“We had a little conversation as a team and it’s about deeds now, not words. We’ve talked about this before, now it’s about actions.

“It all starts on the training pitch. They have to play as best as they can and allow the coach to make his decision.

“We have enough ability-wise, but this is not about ability, it’s about mentality and character.”

Thompson opened the scoring in the third minute when he pounced on a defensive blunder by Tre Manders and Danté Leverock to beat Toran Place.

Town recovered from that early setback and started pushing forward. A move engineered by Tomiko Goater saw him send the ball into the box, and when X-Roads failed to clear, Martin rifled the ball into the net in the thirteenth minute.

It was two for Thompson in the 26th minute after hesitation from Place, who seemed to believe the ball was heading out of play but was beaten on his near post.

Thompson turned provider in the 68th minute with his cross headed in by Amir Wilson for the team’s third.

Having been denied on numerous occasions, Thompson netted his hat-trick in the 84th minute, making no mistake from close range, with his fourth coming right on the stroke of full time as his header caught Town substitute goalkeeper Azir Harvey off his line.

Before that, Lewis had pulled one back for Town but his goal did not change the complexion of the game.

SCORERS

X-Roads: Thompson 3, 26, 84, 90, Wilson 68

Dandy Town: Martin 13, Lewis 88

TEAMS

X-Roads (4-1-3-2): Q Darrell 7 – A Johnston 6, J Sousa 6, T Daniels 7, J Smith 7 (sub: Aa Cajee, 76min) – C Smith 7 – K Richardson 6, R Beek 6 (sub: T Lowe, 90), J Lottimore 7 – A Wilson 6 (sub: I Smith, 76), D Thompson 9. Substitutes not used: J Dill, A Matthews, A Spencer. Booked: Darrell, Cajee

Dandy Town (4-3-3): T Place 5 (sub: A Harvey, 72) – T Manders 5, J Wilson-Butterfield 5 (sub: I Matteo, 55 5), D Leverock 6, E Outerbridge 5 – A Daniels 5, A Lewis 6, A Martin 6 (sub: D Ming, 63 5) – C Robinson 6 (sub: D Butterfield, 63 5), N Spence 6, T Goater 7. Substitutes not used: Q Watson, J Johnson, Booked: Daniels.

Referee: K Johnston.