An abject defensive showing relegated Fruta Conquerors to a 5-2 defeat to Mocha based unit Riddim Squad when their pre-season campaign commenced on Tuesday at the Tucville Community ground.
It was a horror show in defence for the home side as they conceded five goals mainly through defensive errors.
Stephon Daniels, Amos Ramsay, Teon Jones and Steffon Ramsay benefited with goals in the 28th, 36th, 45th and 66th minutes respectively while an own goal in the 85th minute summed up the poor showing.
Dennis Edwards and Jeremy Garrett scored for the losers in the 13th and 90th minute.
The matchup started brightly for the home side as Edwards broke the deadlock 13 minutes into the action volleying over the goalkeeper from the centre of the box, after racing onto a pass.
Reshawn Sandiford came close to increasing their lead in the 17th minute, forcing a smart save from the custodian as his powerful, flat effort, from 24 yards out on the right side went through the defender’s leg.
The woodwork then came to the rescue of the visitors in the 23rd minute as a powerful Jermain Junior strike from 22 yards out in the centre of the field, crashed into the left upright.
On the back foot for the entirety of the opening exchanges, the Mocha-based unit was gifted the equaliser when veteran custodian Derick Carter dropped a simple right side cross within the box, allowing the onrushing and unchallenged Daniels to score five minutes later.
Jahaal Greaves almost restored Fruta Conqueror’s lead in the 35th minute, initiating a brilliant one-two pass combination with forward Jamal Codrington, only to unleash his effort onto the left upright from inside the left of the box.
The miss immediately came back to haunt the host as a poor back pass from the right side of the box by Sandiford, was intercepted and passed to the awaiting Amos Ramsay to curl into the right hand corner.
A third mistake compliments of a failure to cover by the centrehalf resulted in Jones pushing the score to 3-1 on the stroke of half-time, racing onto a through pass over the rearguard before lobbing the advancing ‘keeper into the right corner.
The second period witnessed more of the same as the hosts struggled to convert their chances while making simple blunders on the defensive end.
Scorer of the his side’s first goal, Edwards nearly pulled one back in the 49th minute after latching onto a Greaves through pass within the right side of the box, only to fire his effort onto the crossbar.
Once again their failure to convert their opportunities resulted in another error defensively as Riddim Squad were awarded a penalty kick following a hand-ball infringement by Rafael Edwards.
Tasked with the responsibility from the mark, Ramsay made no mistake as he placed his right foot shot into the lower left corner.
The visitors eventually pushed the score to 5-1 with only five minutes remaining as defender Dino Reid in an attempt to clear the danger, inadvertently directed the ball into the lower left corner.
The home side ultimately found the back of the net with the final kick of the contest as Garrett scored compliments of a 30 yard right sided free-kick, which sailed into the left hand corner.
