Boulevard 3 Dandy Town 2

Ian Coke continued his scoring form to guide Boulevard to a come-from-behind victory over ten-man Dandy Town at Police Field yesterday.

The diminutive striker notched his first hat-trick of the season to take his tally to five, having scored in all of his team’s league matches this season.

Coke put Boulevard ahead with a low drive from outside of the box before Town hit back through Angelo Simmons and Jahmel Swan to take a 2-1 lead into the break.

Coke grabbed his second from the penalty spot after Damon Ming brought Taiquan Davis, the Boulevard substitute, down in the box to draw level.

He then struck the winner and claimed the match ball after thumping another penalty past Dale Eve, making his first appearance in goal for Town, after team-mate Takeyhi Walker was fouled by Neil Smith to leave the visiting side shell-shocked.

With victory seemingly within sight, Town’s fortunes took a turn for the worse when holding midfielder Lynn Tucker was sent off in the 78th minute for a needless handball, his second booking inside of eight minutes.

Things then got even worse for Town who conceded two penalties in the final seven minutes to virtually hand the home side the points on a platter.

Hornets irritated the home team after turning up at the ground wearing their new strip which features Boulevard’s colours: red, gold and green.

Coke eased some of that tension when he lashed home from around 20 yards with a low, right-footed drive that somehow managed to snake its way through a bunch of players standing in front of the blinded Eve who never saw the ball coming.

Town eventually settled down and after stretching Boulevard’s back four struck a double salvo inside of 14 minutes to take the lead.

Simmons, the Town captain and former Boulevard player, equalised with an audacious volley from outside of the box that flew into the roof of the net past the stranded Daniel Adams.

Swan then made it 2-1 when he fired in from 12 yards after the Boulevard defence failed to deal with a loose ball from Ming’s free kick.

Swan’s strike came shortly after Coke blew a glorious chance to put the home side back in front. The striker gave his marker the slip with an excellent first touch but with the entire goal right in front of him went for power rather than placement and ballooned over from around six yards.

Coke was kept under wraps for most of the second half but was flawless from the penalty spot when it mattered most with the game on the line.

Even though they had less possession after the break, Town had their chances to put the game beyond Boulevard’s reach.

Tomiko Goater, returning from a one-game suspension, headed Kamali Davis’s long, diagonal cross over, while Ming shot tamely into the arms of Adams from ten-yards after a good build-up involving Simmons and Swan. Swan also just failed to connect while following up on a Caldre Burgess effort at the back post.