Bermuda Hogges 1

Cincinnati Kings 1

Lloyd Holder’s 46th minute strike earned the Hogges their first United Soccer League (USL) points before a handful of spectators at the National Sports Centre last night.

The spectacle itself, however, was marred towards the end of 90 bruising minutes of aggressive football as tempers began to flare and the true spirit of sportsmanship went out the window.

Holder’s clinically taken goal cancelled out Kevin McCloskey’s first-half tally and restored pride in the local camp following recent back-to-back losses to Harrisburg City Islanders on the Hogges’ USL debut.

But with passions running high and tolerance wearing thin on both sides, American referee Mark Turner was twice called upon to keep matters from spiralling out of control in the dying stages as Hogges midfielder Jared Peniston and Kings’ forward Danny Campbell had to be restrained while Kings president/owner Yacoub Abdallahi Sidya was sent off the bench for an offence he did not commit.

Peniston retaliated after Campbell had committed a late tackle on him. But both players escaped with only a warning. But then the match was thrown into chaos when local fourth official Anthony Mouchette and Kings coach John Pickup became embroiled in a distasteful shouting match near the touchline.

Kings president Sidya wedged himself in between the arguing Mouchette and Pickup to try and restore calm. But after brief consultation referee Turner sent off peacemaker Sidya instead of the volatile Pickup while Mouchette went to great lengths to keep his calm after absorbing a volley of choice words from the Kings coach.

“This was sad for soccer and also sad for the USL. And if it’s going to be like this then we would rather drop out of the league than play against Bermuda,” Kings’ president Sidya lamented near his team’s locker room.

Sidya claimed that fourth official Mouchette instigated the exchange by hurling verbal abuse at his coach. Yet Kings’ foul-mouthed Pickup was far from a saint himself.

“The nerves were jingling a bit but I appreciate how Tony (Mouchette) kept his cool after receiving some really strong verbal abuse. I actually thanked him for that,” commented Hogges co-owner Paul Scope who witnessed the late incident from his team’s bench.

The Hogges improved slightly on their last performance at the Sports Centre just under two weeks ago, but not before falling behind to McCloskey’s fourth-minute goal.

During a raid down the right flank Kings’ forward Nathan Micklos chased down a long ball, shrugged off a challenge and then found his team-mate in the box with a low cross. Surrounded by whites shirts, McCloskey was given just enough space to bury his shot inside the far post on the second attempt after his initial effort was partially blocked.

With the home struggling to keep possession and repeatedly turning the ball over, matters threatened to get ugly for the Hogges as the aggressive Kings piled on the pressure.

But thanks to some timely saves by ‘keeper Timmy Figureido the Kings were held at bay and gradually as half time lingered the home team finally composed themselves and began to settle into an organised rhythm.

Although the Hogges defended for long spells during the opening stanza, they did create a few anxious moments for the Kings defence as striker Stephen Astwood, Holder and Michael Parsons all had half chances to score.

Hogges coach Kyle Lightbourne and team co-owner Shaun Goater were very vocal on the sidelines. And one could only imagine what was said in the home team’s dressing room at the break. But whatever it was it certainly had a good effect as Holder put the Hogges back on even terms seconds after the restart — the home team’s first goal in the USL ranks.

Gaining possession deep in the Kings half, Astwood supplied Holder in the middle with a defence-splitting pass that the latter made absolutely no mistake with — drilling it past goalie Craig Saluati on the run.

“That was lovely. We put Lloyd in there because he always seems to get on the end of things and we didn’t have that in the first two games,” Scope said.

“Lloyd did well and he is one of the players we think will really benefit from being in a professional set up.”

The goal clearly jolted the Kings and lifted the confidence of the Hogges who were then unfortunate not to have taken the lead through a spectacular Astwood diving header that Saluati somehow managed to get a hand to.

The Hogges also defended reasonably well, but on a few occasions had to hold their breath when the Kings got goal-side.

But whenever the visitors did get behind the Hogges back four, the fired up Figureido always came to the rescue.

The veteran ‘keeper was twice called upon to deny Campbell from close range while at the other end Parson’s searching drive rolled inches past the upright.

“Timmy is very disciplined and right now he is a big asset to the team,” Scope said.

“But tonight’s result is definitely something for us to build on — although I actually thought we were the better team.”

Bermuda Hogges: T.Figureido, D.Ming (capt), M.Parsons, J.Scott, D.Zuill, D.Cox, S.Degraff, J.Peniston, L.Dill (S.Crockwell, 60 mins), S.Astwood, L.Holder (D.Coddington, 69 mins).

Cincinnati Kings: C.Saluati, S.Salvator, A.Townsend, T.Sandaal, C.Romain, F.Rainy (S.Miller, 75 mins), K.Sarkodie (P.Glaser, 45 mins), B.Jones (capt), K.McCloskey (D.Horne, 88 mins), N.Micklos (T.Hermann, 66 mins), D.Campbell.

Yellow cards: D.Zuill (Hogges)

Sent off: Y.Sidya (Kings)

Men of the Match: T.Figureido (Hogges); N.Micklos (Kings)

Referee: Mark Turner (USA).