Wolves 1

St David’s 1

Steven Bremar went from villain to saviour at Devonshire Recreation Club last night to keep Wolves’s FA Cup hopes alive.

The towering Wolves centre back missed a first-half penalty, a miss that seemed destined to haunt his side after Allan Douglas put St David’s ahead right on the stroke of half time.

However, just when it seemed as though the visitors had the game sewn up, Bremar found himself in the right place with five minutes left, and finished with aplomb after St David’s failed to clear their lines.

Wolves could well have won it at the end when Shacoi Daniels, the Wolves midfielder, gained possession around the penalty box with only Ankoma Cannonier, the St David’s goalkeeper, to beat.

However, Daniels hesitated to pull the trigger, and the St David’s defence scrambled the ball clear and the danger was gone.

The stalemate means the two teams will meet again in a replay to decide who advances and who gets bounced from the prestigious tournament.

St David’s would have also felt hard done after Diego McCallan, the midfielder, missed a first-half penalty during a period when Otis Minor’s side were largely the better team.

The visitors always looked threatening on the quick break with Douglas, the lone striker, causing all sorts of problems for the Wolves defence with his mazy runs in and around the box.

On one such break Douglas blazed his shot over the bar after the Wolves defence was caught out of position.

Wolves responded with Kyle Brangman, the Wolves midfielder, also firing over with a thunderous drive from outside of the penalty box.

St David’s were awarded a penalty when McCallan was brought down in the box as he raced towards goal. The St David’s midfielder took the spot-kick himself but only succeeded in shooting tamely into the arms of Jahhi Shakir, the Wolves goalkeeper.

Despite the miss, the Islanders pressed on and nearly broke the deadlock when Angelo Cannonier, playing deeper than usual behind Douglas, unleashed a vicious free kick from 20 yards which Shakir somehow managed to tip over the bar.

Wolves almost scored twice against the run of play during the latter stages of the half with Torry Davis, the midfielder, forcing Cannonier to turn his 30-yard blast around the post, and then race off his line to beat the charging Daniels to a loose ball.

St David’s finally opened their account moments before the break when Douglas squeezed a shot in off the near post in heavy traffic.

The game opened up after the restart with Wolves holding a slight edge and pinning their rivals in their own half for long spells, as they pushed hard for an equaliser.

Raymond Butterfield, the Wolves striker, just failed to get a boot to Kyle Brangman’s diagonal cross with Cannonier out of position.

The home team had a let-off when Douglas was clearly fouled by Shakir in the box during a raid down the middle. However, despite confident appeals by the visitors for what looked a sure penalty, Antoine Augustus, the referee, awarded Wolves a free kick instead.

Douglas strongly protested and was eventually booked for persistently arguing against the referee’s decision.

Wolves were clearly the better team in the closing minutes and their hustle finally paid off with five minutes of regulation time remaining.

A cross from the left side ricocheted off a defender’s legs and rolled into the path of Bremar, who grabbed the chance to redeem himself with both hands.