Boulevard 3

Wolves 3

A comedy of errors from start to finish, Boulevard Blazers and Wolves will have to do it all again after battling to an entertaining draw at Police Field yesterday.

Ian Coke scored a hat-trick for Blazers, who twice came from behind and played for an hour with ten men after TiaeVince Douglas’s foolish sending-off.

Douglas was booked twice in a minute for acts of petulance that did little to help his side’s cause.

Blazers should count themselves lucky that Tracy Adams, the referee, appeared to be in a generous mood as Niko Smith, the Boulevard midfielder, could also have been sent off. After being booked in the first half, Smith escaped with a series of reckless tackles after the break that went unpunished.

Still, it is possible that Adams got caught up in the fun of watching two goalkeepers who seemed determined to outdo each other in the mistakes department.

Delgardo Pinto, the Boulevard goalkeeper, set the tone when he palmed a simple free kick up into the air and Kyle Brangman headed it in to give Wolves the lead. His counterpart, Jahhi Shakir, could hardly have been blamed for the penalty that drew Blazers level, but Coke’s second, a dramatic bicycle kick where Shakir jumped out of the way was certainly the goalkeeper’s fault.

Pinto went next as Wolves drew level, making a complete hash of a cross from Alleyne Francis that Lamelle Paynter headed in at the back post. Three minutes later, Wolves retook the lead when Lionel Evans got the merest touch on a Torry Davis free kick and his header crept in at the far post as Pinot watched it all the way.

However, the best, or worst, was yet to come. Coke completed his hat-trick when he picked up the ball outside his own penalty area, raced through a series of half-hearted tackles and then scuffed a shot that Shakir somehow managed to dive underneath.

Wolves could have won it towards the end, but substitute Steven Bremar fluffed his line with the goal at his mercy.