Dandy Town Hornets 2 Boulevard 2

Angelo Simmons saved a point for Dandy Town after scoring two late goals to pull his team back from two goals down against Boulevard at St John’s Field.

Second-half strikes from Aldonte Smith and Jahzardae Samuels had the home side on the back foot, but following a bit of fortune they were able to get themselves back in it.

Town would have come into the match knowing that they needed a win to keep pace with league leaders PHC Zebras, but coach Kwame Steede had plenty of praise for his team.

“We have shown a lot of character this season and I’m proud of the way that the team responded today as well,” he said.

“Once we went down by two goals, we made a few tactical changes and showed a lot of fight to come back.”

Town had the upper hand in the early stages and should probably have been up a couple goals by the half. However, some lethargic finishing and some inspired goalkeeping kept the visiting side in it. Simmons, was finding joy cutting in from the left onto to his favoured right foot and forced a couple of fine saves from goalkeeper Ronniko Burchall.

Ian Coke, playing against his former club, had the best chance in the 25th minute, running on to a through ball but could not beat the onrushing Burchall.

Boulevard found an opener through Smith in the 58th minute. Town failed to properly deal with a diagonal ball, and the winger was able to cut across the box and finish sharply hard and low to the keeper’s left.

The goal seemed to lift Boulevard who were now finding time and space in midfield to pick out passes. The pressure finally told in the 75th minute when Samuels got on the end of a Kamali Davis through ball, and buried his shot into the top corner. The turning point of the match came in the 80th minute in controversial fashion when Boulevard were sure that they were about to score a third.

A miscommunication at the back for Town resulted in a collision between the defender and the goalkeeper, leaving the Smith staring at an empty net with the ball at his feet. However, referee Anthony Francis felt that there was an infringement by the Boulevard player and blew the whistle for foul.

From the restart, Town went on the attack were awarded a penalty at the other end of the pitch for handball, which Simmons dispatched firmly into the bottom corner. Town pushed numbers forward in search of the equaliser, and with the last kick of the game, Simmons finished with a volley from ten yards when Boulevard could not clear their lines from a deep cross into the box.

SCORERS

Dandy Town

A Simmons 87.90

Boulevard

A Smith 58, J Samuels 75

TEAMS

Dandy Town: J Manders — A Simmons, I Coke (sub: D Butterfield, 78min), D Ming, N Spence (sub: G Liburd, 72), L Tucker, E Trott, E Blankendal, K Steede, K Simmons, K Lathan. Substitutes not used: D Walker, J Swan.

Boulevard: R Burchall — J Williams, K Smith (sub: T Stovell, 70), Z Stovell, M Smith, N Smith, J Samuels (sub: K Easton, 78), K Davis (sub: S Tostin, 87), A Smith, T Walker, A Famous. Substitutes not used: R Trott, Y Darrell.

Referee: A Francis.