A gutsy second-half performance only just fell short of giving visiting St.

George's Colts a stunning victory over their highly-favoured opponents in this First Division match at PHC last night.

While most of the members of lowly St. George's appeared to be satisfied to have snatched a precious point from this away match, coach Gregory Foggo felt that they could have won it -- and he was right.

PHC, 1-0 winners when the teams last met at Wellington Oval on November 1, seemed well on their way to another victory after going ahead on a goal after 15 minutes by Sammy Swan.

But the east-enders, with their confidence obviously restored by whatever coach Foggo had to say during the break, picked themselves up when play resumed and methodically threw the home team out of gear by dominating for long periods in the second half.

The real boost came when they snatched the equaliser after 58 minutes when Duval Smith slammed the ball home from close range, the goal coming after the defence had scrambled the ball away from the goal-line twice following a superb effort by hard-working forward Clay Smith.

Smith deserved credit for initiating the goal because it was his cracking 25-yard shot that crashed against the bar, which the defence had difficulty clearing away of danger that eventually set things up for Duval Smith.

Before staging the courageous recovery though, St. George's had to brush off a number of raids by PHC in the first half with Michael Trott, Dana Rawlins and Swan putting shots over after the visitors tired following a fast start. Trott had a huge miss from close in after 30 minutes.

The east-enders had their chances, too, most of them coming during the first six minutes, but Philip Bailey and Marlon Outerbridge put their efforts wide while a Greg Foggo blast was sensationally palmed wide by goalkeeper Ty Williams. St. George's finished the half with Clay Smith powering two shots just wide of the post.

PHC mysteriously lost their rhythm in the second half and allowed their opponents to take the upper hand. They could have been rattled by the early misses by Swan and Trott within four minutes of the restart.

The eager Colts slowly gained a grip of the proceedings and penetrated goal-worthy areas with Greg Foggo, son of the coach, and Clay Smith always a force up front.

Once Smith paved the way for the equaliser it put the team into top gear and it took some close watching by skipper Mike Dill and his defence to hold Smith and Foggo at bay.

PHC: T.Williams; N.Simons, M.Dill, D.Outerbridge, M.Wade; O.Steede, B.Simons, D.Rawlins; M.Trott (M.Smith, 70 mins), S.Swan, S.Simons.

St. George's: T.Hall; A.Todd, E.Basden, P.Fubler, S.Denbrook; D.Smith (S.M.Smith, 86 mins), J.Cieters, P.Bailey; G.Foggo, M.Outerbridge, C.Smith.

Referee: Gregory Belboda.

Men of the match: Mike Dill (PHC); Greg Foggo, Jr. (St. George's).