North Village 1

Southampton 1

Vernon Perinchief, the Southampton Rangers midfielder, struck a last-gasp free kick into the bottom corner to earn his side a share of spoils against North Village at Bernard Park yesterday.

Village took lead on the half-hour mark minute when their very own free kick specialist, Tyrell Burgess, curled a superb effort into the top corner from 22 yards out. But Perinchief proved that anything Burgess could do, he could do equally as well, bending a low free kick around the Village wall and past the stationary goalkeeper Troy Hall Jr, to set off joyous celebrations on the Rangers bench.

Stephen Astwood, the experienced Rangers midfielder, believes the point was just rewards for Rangers’ hard work and never-say-die attitude.

“We’re definitely happy to get a point,” Astwood said. “The game was so scrappy, it really could have gone either way, but I think it was a fair result. We had to fight to get a draw and we showed some character.”

Village shaded a scrappy, bad-tempered first half that at times threatened to boil over, with both sets of players voicing their frustrations at some of referee Ronue Cann’s decisions.

The game settled down after the break with Village creating a two early chances, a deep cross from Jason Davis, which Thomas Watson headed wide, and a Jaquan Smith-Deshields shot that hit the side-netting.

At the other end, Rangers were continuing to cause Village hearts to occasionally flutter with Hall having to be alert to tip a dipping Dion Stovell volley on to a post and out of danger.

Village again threatened on the break when Pierre Smith drove into the box before slicing his shot into the side-netting, a recurring theme for Village, who were punished for not putting the game out of Rangers’ reach when Perinchief struck in the dying seconds.

“This season has been pretty good with [coach] Maurice Lowe in charge and he’s taught the guys a lot,” Astwood added.

“We have some good youngsters and that’s why older guys like myself have come back out. I think the standard [in Bermuda] is a little low right now, so hopefully the older guys can help raise it a little bit.”