Flanagan’s Onions 1 Boulevard 2

Boulevard put some distance between themselves and the bottom four teams last night at Goose Gosling Field when they scored twice midway through the second half to seal a hard-fought victory.

Both teams were involved in high-scoring matches last weekend, Boulevard going down 7-0 to leaders PHC and Onions involved in a thrilling 4-4 draw with X-Roads, but goals took a long time to come after a first half of few chances.

Jahzarde Samuels went close for Boulevard in the eleventh minute when his shot from inside the box was blocked by goalkeeper Lejuan Matthews, and Kamali Davis followed up to head the rebound wide.

The best chance for Onions in the first half came late when defender Chejuan Berkeley put a downward header from a Treshun Smith corner wide from a good position.

Berkeley, who was in goal for Onions last weekend, was one of the changes in their defence brought on by injuries to captain Peter Robey and Mohamed Aden. Berkeley partnered the returning Martel Laws in the middle of the backline, while Berkeley was replaced in goal by Matthews.

Omar Wilson, a late transfer from BAA who scored a late equaliser on his debut against X-Roads, drove a shot into the side-netting early in the second half to signal Onions’ intention after the restart. However, it was Bouevard who took the lead midway through the half when Aldonte Smith crossed from the left and Samuels steered the ball home despite the efforts of the diving Matthews.

The lead was short-lived, with Keston Lewis equalising just a couple of minutes later after meeting Smith’s corner on the left and beating goalkeeper Romiko Burchall with a free header from six yards.

A third goal came in the space of only 11 minutes when TiaeVince Douglas scored what turned out to be the winner, netting from a header after captain Dunn-ya Taylor’s corner on the left. He limped off two minutes later, to be replaced by Khiry Easton.

Onions had an effort from Lewis ruled out for offside a couple of minutes later after a free kick from substitute Anthony Rocker. At the other end, Easton just missing scoring what would have been a spectacular header when he failed to make contact with his diving effort at the far post.

Matthews made a couple of outstanding late saves to deny Boulevard late goals through Samuels. He turned a cross by Samuels away from the lurking Easton and then made two saves to deny Samuels from shots outside the box.

Onions added to their injury worries when Rocker went off with a groin injury just nine minutes after coming on as a replacement for Wilson.

SCORERS

Flanagan’s Onions

Lewis 67

Boulevard

Samuels 65

Douglas 76

Flanagan’s Onions (4-3-3): L Matthews — C Burns, C Berkeley, M Laws, N Dunkle — M Lindsay-Bailey, J Higson, M Wilson (sub: A Rocker, 68min; sub: P Smith, 87) — K Lewis, T Smith, S Swan (sub: M Brewer, 87). Substitutes not used: N Anglin, J Morgan.

Boulevard (4-3-3): R Burchall — A Famous, J Williams, T Stovell, Z Stovell — N Smith, D Taylor, K Davis — A Smith, T Douglas (sub: K Easton, 78), J Samuels. Substitutes not used: T Butterfield, Y Darrell.

Referee: C Trott.