Chemarl Henry and Senoj Mitchell both struck twice as Devonshire Colts recovered from their surprise midweek loss to St George’s with an emphatic victory over X-Roads at a rain-soaked Police Field on Sunday.
The win keeps Colts firmly in the title hunt, sitting three points behind leaders Dandy Town with a game in hand. Head coach Ray Jones was delighted with the response following a run of underwhelming displays.
“This is a good reaction because after a poor result you can easily drop your heads,” Jones said.
“Our work rate hasn’t been where it should be in recent weeks, but the intensity was right today and it was our strongest performance in the last three matches. After the third goal you could see a bit of inexperience — they scored and then we had to refocus and finish the game strongly with two more late goals.”
Colts nearly opened the scoring inside the first minute when Elisha Darrell slipped a pass through for Chemarl Henry, but Henry was penalised for a push on Christian Smith as he chased the ball.
The breakthrough came inside ten minutes when Henry turned provider, threading a pass to Darrell, who cut inside and fired beyond Warriors goalkeeper Kamran Harvey.
Daniel Ball then bent a free kick around the defensive wall from just outside the box, but Harvey reacted well to keep it out.
Soon after, X-Roads threatened when Paul Simons was released by Aaron Spencer and cut the ball back for Danavon Thompson, who shot over the bar. The move was later ruled offside in the build-up.
With heavy rain falling, X-Roads pressed high and disrupted Colts’ rhythm, leading to a scrappy spell of play in the first half.
Their most promising moments came from direct balls and set pieces, with Thompson using his physical presence to link play.
Colts suffered an early reshuffle when San-Tze Burgess limped off with a suspected hamstring injury and was replaced by Deszion Davis. Five minutes later, the home side doubled their lead.
Henry again found Darrell in space, and after holding the ball up, Darrell picked out Mitchell’s clever run from the opposite side. Mitchell finished confidently past Harvey to give Colts breathing room.
Just before the interval, Mitchell earned a penalty after being brought down by Tyler Dill, but Jorj Dublin struck the post from the spot in the wet conditions.
Early in the second half, Darrell and Mitchell combined to force Harvey into a superb double save on the hour mark. The pair linked up again 14 minutes later for Colts’ third goal, with Darrell delivering a pinpoint cross from the right and Mitchell driving his header into the turf and past Harvey.
X-Roads responded positively and pulled one back two minutes later when Thompson skipped past Davis and smashed a shot beyond Jaden Mills-Furbert.
However, they failed to build on that momentum, and Henry sealed the result with two stoppage-time goals.
Keino Burch provided the assist for the first, slipping Henry through so he could round Harvey and roll the ball into an empty net. Henry then completed his brace by tapping in after Mitchell’s initial effort was parried by the goalkeeper.
SCORERS
Devonshire Colts: Darrell 9; Mitchell 31, 74; Henry 90+1, 90+3
X-Roads: Thompson 76
TEAMS
Devonshire Colts (4-3-3): J Mills-Furbert 6 — D Ball 7 (sub: K Burch, 79min), J Dublin 6, S Burgess 4 (sub: D Davis, 26 6), J Paynter 6 — Z Burgess 6, J Bean-Lindo 5 (sub: D Jackson, 65 5), S Robinson 6 — C Henry 8, E Darrell 7, S Mitchell 8.
Substitutes not used: T Eve, J Saunders, R Whitter, A Van Duyne.
Booked: Paynter
X-Roads (4-2-3-1): K Harvey 7 — J Bean 6, E Abranches 6, C Smith 6, T Dill 5 (sub: S McKittrick, 57 6) — T Daniels 5, K Douglas 5 (sub: R Simmons, 76) — A Spencer 6, P Simons 6, K Richardson 5 (sub: K Brangman, 57 5) — D Thompson 6.
Substitutes not used: C Binnie, A Darrell.
Booked: Joao Abranches, Spencer
Referee: A Majors
