Paget 1 St George’s 1

Paget Lions equalised late to snatch a 1-1 draw against St George’s Colts in their first Dudley Eve Trophy match at Goose Gosling Field on Sunday night.

Omari Tucker cancelled out an early second-half strike by Ryan King to leave Paget coach Antwan Russell pleased with his team’s first performance of the season after they were promoted to the Premier Division last season.

“We wanted to use the Dudley Eve as a gauge just to see where we are at,” Russell said.

“I told my guys that we are not here to make up the numbers but to compete. Realistically, with this being our first game and with our new signings, I think we did better than I expected.”

The game featured a dull first half with both teams lacking attacking prowess in the goal areas.

St. George’s came closes to scoring two minutes before the break when Jarazinho Bassett’s first-time shot from an Ardon Heyliger cross smashed against the crossbar before bouncing back into play.

St George’s picked up the tempo immediately after the restart forcing back-to-back corners. Paul Simons’ thunderous header was brilliantly tipped over by Paget goalkeeper Troy Hall with the resulting corner cleared off the line.

St. George’s persistence finally paid off when Ryan King met Ari Cannonier’s diagonal cross to the back post with a powerful header, giving Hall no chance.

As time was running out, Diage Hart crossed the ball into the centre where substitute Omari Tucker made a forceful run to nip between defender Philip Anderson and the advancing St. George’s goalkeeper, Jahquil Hill, to slot the ball into an empty net to level the scores.

Jarreau Hayward, the St. George’s coach, took the late equaliser in stride:

“I am disappointed that we didn’t get the three points but this is a good step forward. We need to take the positives from this match and at the same time must learn from our mistakes’.

Scorers:

Paget: Tucker 84

St George’s: King 65

Teams

St George’s Colts (4-1-4-1): J Hill 5 - A Cannioner 6, P Anderson 6, A Simons 6, J Bassett 6 — N Paynter 6— J Burgess 6, A Heyliger 6 (sub: D Lodge, 75min), M Paynter 6, P Simons 7 - R King 7. Substitutions not used: W Broadley, J Carlington, W White, A Francis, G Wade.

Paget Lions (4-2-3-1): T Hall 6 - J White 6 (sub: A Russell, 84), J Carpenter 6, R DeShields 6, K Durrant 6 (sub: S Lambert, 62 6) —- P Castle 6 (sub: K Davis, 55 5) , D Joell 6—- D Hart 6, Z Weller 5, K Simons 5 —-K Hypolite 6 (O Tucker, 55 7). Substitutions not used: C Smith, O DeShields. Booked: R DeShields.

Referee: K Jennings