St. David's 2, Boulevard 2 A 20-yard thunderbolt by Sean Smith saved the day for St. David's in this bone-crunching confrontation with Boulevard.

The midfielder's stunning second-half strike was a classic example of a clinically executed half-chance.

Boulevard goalkeeper John Gibbons did well to stretch his fingertips to the ball as it rammed into the corner of the net.

The goal levelled the score at 2-2 and knocked Boulevard out of their stride, just as they threatened to gain the upper hand.

In the end, however, yesterday's draw was a fair result in a fiercely-contested, yet scrappy, match.

Both sides were fielding teams weakened by injuries, and partly by the needs of the national squad.

And neither hit the right tempo to do justice to their guts and enthusiasm, which led to some ugly tackling.

Referee Frank Drayton had his work cut out keeping the lid on a game that threatened occasionally to boil over.

St. David's Dale Fox and Boulevard's Wayne Richardson both received yellow cards.

The afternoon started in dream fashion for St. David's when they were awarded an eighth-minute penalty.

The culprit was Boulevard defender Richardson who crudely brought down Kanhai Fray in the area.

There were few protests as Drayton immediately pointed to the spot.

Calvin Richardson coolly stepped up to sweep the ball sweetly to Gibbons' right.

Five minutes later St. David's had a gilt-edged opportunity to make it 2-0, when Del Hollis was put clear inside the box, with Boulevard's defence in disarray.

The midfielder's hurried effort, however, was cleared off the line as he failed to direct his strike.

St. David's dream start then threatened to turn into a nightmare as Boulevard hit back twice in little over 10 minutes.

Boulevard's hard-working midfielder Johnny Boyles smartly linked up with Amon Brown who tore down St. David's left flank, and slotted the ball to a grateful Dwight Warren.

Warren made no mistake as he put away the simplest of chances inside the box.

The 27th-minute strike, was soon followed by a moment of madness in St.

David's defence.

Goalkeeper George O'Brien will try to blot from his mind the 38th-minute disaster when he rushed from the line to clear the ball on the edge of the area.

The ball squirmed agonisingly between his legs, and as Boulevard's surging attack smelt blood, it was Norell Hull who prodded the ball home.

With the first half drawing to a close, Boulevard finally appeared to be assuming control.

They picked up where they left off after the restart -- but then Sean Smith's 57th-minute powerdriver stopped them in their tracks.

It effectively killed off the contest, which was played out scrappily to an end.

St. David's manager David Scradders was in no doubt as to the importance of Smith's strike.

"It really saved the day for us,'' he said.

St. David's: G.O'Brien, E.Smith, S.Pitcher, C.Richardson, S.Smith, D.Fox, D.Hollis, M.Dill, C.Furbert (S.Fox, 74 mins) G.Dill, K.Fray (W.Smith, 85 mins).

Boulevard: J.Gibbons, A.Brown, W.Richardson, K.Darrell, S.Boyles, D.Warren, J.Boyles, C.Steede, D.Rogers (B.Anderson, 79 mins), N.Hull, M.Smith (M.Sabeeney, 72 mins).

Referee: Frank Drayton.

Men of the match: Calvin Richardson (St. David's), Johnny Boyles (Boulevard).