Boulevard Blazers 1 North Village 1

Boulevard’s focus on survival paid off as they earned a draw against North Village at Lord’s yesterday.

Jahzardae Samuels planted home a penalty, sending Village goalkeeper Detre Bell the wrong way, to pull his team level with virtually the last kick of the game. Troy Smith, the Boulevard coach, said: “We’re worrying about safety,” he said. “We played well today and need to stay focused.”

Village came close to scoring early in the first half when Shayne Hollis outpaced his marker and slipped the ball to Keishen Bean, who beat his man and got off a shot. Boulevard goalkeeper Ronniko Burchall could only parry the effort and had to jump on the rebound as it was spinning towards goal.

Boulevard countered when Dunn-ya Taylor struck a low free kick from 19 yards that beat the wall but clipped an upright. Village thought they had scored just before the half when Bean and Hollis combined to put the latter through, but his shot brought a fine save from Burchall.

Boulevard should have taken the lead when a free kick left substitute Kamali Davis with only the goalkeeper to beat but he placed his shot over the bar. Village took the lead in the 85th minute when Terryn Fray sent in a high cross from the left and Bean outjumped the defence to head home.

Boulevard equalised when striker Khiry Easton was pushed to the ground, earning his side a penalty. Samuels stepped up and struck a firmly hit spot-kick to earn Boulevard a deserved point.

Randy Spence, the Village assistant coach, was disappointed with the draw. “We had chances to put the game away early,” he said. “We did well to create chances but we didn’t score. Goals win games. We have got to stay focused for 90 minutes.”

SCORERS

Boulevard

Samuels 90 pen

North Village

Bean 85

TEAMS

Boulevard (4-4-2): R Burchall — J Williams, K Smith, Z Stovell, A Famous — D Taylor, J Samuels, N Smith (sub: K Davis, 71min), A Smith (sub: T Walker, 54) — T Douglas, K Easton. Substitutes not used: Y Darrell, T Stovell.

North Village (3-5-2): D Bell — K Knights (sub: L Dill, 60), T Fray, D Tankard — A Johnston (sub: Q Outerbridge, 60), J Brier, D Daniels (sub: C Daniels, 69), A Furbert, J Thomas — S Hollis, K Bean. Substitutes not used: M Thomas, D Dillas.

Referee: A Francis.