Boulevard 2 North Village 2

Battling Boulevard staged a dramatic comeback to claim a deserved point against title chasers North Village who squandered a two-goal lead.

The unexpected result opens up a four point gap between Rams and tabletoppers PHC who lock horns in a proverbial six pointer next weekend.

Second-half goals from Angelo Simmons and Raymond Burgess cancelled out Sammy DeGraff's wonder-strike and Jahmarly Samuels' own-goal, earning Blazers a vital point in their fight to stave off relegation.

"I'm very proud of my players," said Blazers coach John Rebello. "We more than deserved a point and may have even clinched all three.

"At half-time we talked about playing with more pride and the players responded. It's been a good weekend for us with both Trojans and Colts losing. This result lifts us another point away from the relegation rat-race."

Rams took the lead through midfield schemer DeGraff who broke the deadlock on 20 minutes with a superbly struck volley from distance. Dreadlocked defender Samuels then comically headed Jemeiko Jennings' deep free-kick into his own net two minutes later, leaving Blazers with an uphill struggle.

Winger Shayne Hollis almost extended Rams' lead by rattling the crossbar with a swirling long range strike and it was a downcast Blazers that entered the dressing room at half-time.

But while they may not be the fittest, or the most refined, John Rebello's men do possess an abundance of spirit and character and on 57 minutes reduced the deficit through Burgess who slammed home after Hendrickson had parried a Takeyhi Walker strike.

By now they were dominating proceedings and on 67 minutes the comeback was complete when jet-heeled striker Simmons equalised with a volley after a right-wing cross was only half cleared.

Rebello was full of praise for the promising Simmons but challenged the young striker to extract more from his undoubted talent.

"Angelo has bags of ability and explosive pace," he said. "But he could be a much better player if he listened to his coaches more. He's only a young guy but he's frustrating because he could do so much more damage for us. When he learns to make the right decisions he'll become a very good player indeed."

"I was delighted with all the players because at one point I feared it was going to be another frustrating afternoon for us."

Boulevard: R.Broadbent, J.Paynt, Jahmarly Samuels, Jahmah Samuels, M.Gibbons, C.Trott (W.Place 50), N.Smith (Jahmal Samuals 89), A.Simmons, R.Burgess, P.Bradshaw, T.Walker

North Village: Z.Hendrickson, D.Edwards, R.Wilson, K.Dill, J.Jennings, J.Boyles, S.DeGraff, R.Bean, K.Bean, M.Godley (J.Darrell 70), S.Hollis (C.Trott 87)

Referee: G.O'Brien

Yellow card: C.Trott (Boulevard)

Man of the Match: M.Gibbons (Boulevard)