Boulevard 3 Footy Kings 2 (aet; 2-2 at 90min)

Boulevard survived a major scare before bouncing back to snatch a dramatic extra-time winner through substitute Taiquan Davis, to see off Corona League side Footy Kings in a FA Cup preliminary round match on Saturday night at Goose Gosling Field

Boulevard seemed set for a comfortable victory after scoring twice in the opening seven minutes, but Footy Kings made life difficult for their First Division opponents, when they equalised and threatened to win it after Boulevard struggled against a revived Kings side.

Ironically, it was the dismissal of Kings’ Sean Fubler nine minutes into the first period of extra time that proved decisive, with Davis scoring the winner from the resulting free kick from near the centre circle.

Davis had been fouled by Fubler, who received a red card for his second caution and Davis picked himself up to score the best goal of the night, when his free kick from distance flew past goalkeeper Aaron Brown.

After an exciting opening few minutes, it looked like Boulevard would stroll to an easy victory over their more senior opponents. Jerome Bailey broke the deadlock when he scored from close range following a corner after just four minutes.

Three minutes later it was 2-0, when a headed pass inside the box found captain Ian Coke, who calmly placed his shot into the far bottom corner.

Footy Kings eventually settled down and provide more of a threat, as captain Ralph Bean led their fightback with an opening goal in the 33rd minute from the penalty spot after he was clipped by full back Zico Stovell.

Kings had an opportunity to equalise a few minutes later but were denied when goalkeeper Azir Harvey produced a good near post save to deny Clinton Hayward.

A free kick on the left side by defender Darius Cox was inches too high, as Footy Kings kept pressing late in the half. Two minutes before the break, Boulevard were reduced to ten men when Jerome Bailey was sent off for a handball, his second caution, after being shown a yellow card in the thirteenth minute.

Footy Kings capitalised on the advantage by scoring the equaliser in the 60th minute, with Bean meeting a pass into the box from his former North Village team-mate, Keishen Bean, and placing his shot perfectly into the bottom corner to tie it up at 2-2.

A few minutes later, forward Marcus Johnson went close to putting Footy Kings ahead for the first time in the match, but his shot was inches over the crossbar.

The score remained level until the 99th minute, when Davis struck the winner to sink Footy Kings’ hopes of claiming another First Division scalp for the second straight year.

In the second period of extra time, Keishen Bean had two chances to tie it up, but could not claw back a goal for the Kings.

A long ball out of defence by Cox found Bean just inside the box before goalkeeper Harvey made an important block to deny the striker.

Then, with the last chance of the match, Keishen Bean poked his shot wide of the far post after a cross from the right by Ralph Bean set him up.

SCORERS

Boulevard: Bailey 4, Coke 7, Davis 99

Footy Kings: R Bean 33 pen, 60

TEAMS

Boulevard (4-3-3): A Harvey 7 – W Augustus 5 (sub: T Davis, 67min 7), A Famous 6, J Bailey 5, Z Stovell (sub: T Stovell, 96 5) – J Amory, 6, T Walker 6, N Smith 5 (sub: A Smith, 73 5) – I Coke 6, E Zuill 5 (sub: K McQueen, 73 5), T Robinson 5 (sub: R Wray, 47 5) Booked: Zuill, Bailey, A Smith Sent off: Bailey .

Footy Kings (4-3-3): A Brown 5 – O Ray 5 (sub: E Wilkin, 91 5), R Wilson 5, D Cox 6, A Lowe 5 – R Bean 7, K Dill 5 (sub: M Thomas, 91 5), W Place 5 (sub: S Fubler, 68 5) – K Bean 6, C Hayward, 5, M Johnson 6 Substitutes not used: D Martin, A Charles, C Russell, K Warner, T Foote. Booked: Fubler. Sent off: Fubler.

Referee: D Jackson.