North Village 2 St George’s 2

North Village were denied a winning start to their Dudley Eve Trophy campaign as Tyrell Burgess struck deep into additional time to snatch a share of the spoils for St George’s at Devonshire Rec on Tuesday night.

Village looked set to claim all three points in the season-opening group A encounter when captain Tahmi Williams put his side back in front with just four minutes remaining after Jaizel Smith-Deshields inadvertently cancelled out his own opener with an unfortunate own goal at the other end.

However, with seconds remaining, Burgess found himself in the right place at the right time to bundle the ball in through a crowd of players to spark wild celebrations.

“I’m delighted to have scored and to help us get a point in this Dudley Eve Trophy group game against a very tough team,” Burgess said. “The ball came from deep and when it dropped I just made sure I got it on target.

“It was a good game overall. We knew that Village would play some good football and we had to defend, sit in and try and take our chances when they came.

“We’re definitely pleased to come out with a point in this first game and we’ll take that into our next group match against Dandy Town.”

Village came agonisingly close to breaking the deadlock after just ten minutes when Justin Bell seized upon a poor kick from goalkeeper Zeko Burgess, but could only watch on as his long range effort crashed back off the crossbar with the custodian stranded.

St George’s were denied what appeared a strong penalty claim just four minutes later when Keishon Wilson went down under the challenge of Tarreko Wilson, but referee Tashun Simons waved away the strong appeals from both the player and coaching staff.

To compound matters, Village opened the scoring in the eighteenth minute when Smith-Deshields raced onto Wilson’s through ball before rounding the onrushing Burgess and slotting the ball into the net.

Further chances came and went with village debutant Tre Ming spurning two opportunities in as many minutes midway through the half, while at the other end Keishon Wilson called Detre Bell into action, with the keeper alert to save the forward’s stinging low strike to keep his side’s lead intact going into the interval.

After a sluggish start to the second half, St George’s found themselves level in fortuitous fashion on the hour mark as Smith-Deshields inadvertently diverted the ball beyond Bell, slicing his attempted front-post clearance from an inswinging corner from the left into the far top corner.

Just a minute later, Village should have got themselves back in front. Z’Dao Dill did brilliantly down the right-hand side, skipping past Jordan Darrell before cutting the ball back to Ian Simmons who failed to capitalise, firing straight at Burgess.

With the match seemingly heading for a draw, Village looked to have won it after regaining the lead with four minutes remaining. Dill curled a wickedly inswinging free kick from the left byline towards the back post where Williams managed to prod the ball home despite the valiant efforts of Burgess to keep the ball out.

However, as the full time whistle loomed St George’s levelled in dramatic fashion from a free kick of their own as Nzari Paynter’s deep cross from the right fell at the feet of Burgess, who kept his composure to sweep in through a crowd of players and snatch a point for his side.

SCORERS

North Village: Deshields 18, Williams 86

St George’s: Deshields og 60, T Burgess 90+5

TEAMS

North Village (4-2-3-1): D Bell 7 – K Knights 6, T Wilson 7, J Harvey 7, T Bean 6 – T Williams 7, T Ming 7 – Z Dill 8, I Simmons 7 (sub: V Perinchief, 75min), J Bell 6 (sub: S Lambert, 88) – J Smith-Deshields 7. Substitutes not used: O DeShields, N Anglin, Z Robinson, N Smith, K Harrison. Booked: Knights, T Wilson, T Williams.

St George’s (4-3-3): Z Burgess 6 – T Burgess 6, J Darrell 6 (sub: G Wade, 60 6), L Dill 7, (sub: J Brangman 73), M Trott 6 (sub: S Blair-Paynter, 67 6) – N Paynter 7, K Hall 7 (sub: K Stevens, 73), P Anderson 7 – A Francis 6, B Hall 7, K Wilson 7 (sub: J Burgess, 67 6). Substitutes not used: J Carlington, W Broadley. Booked: Paynter, Dill, Darrell.

Referee: T Simons.