Howard Walker, Staff Reporter
Boys' Town's captain Fitzroy Anglin (No. 18) controls the ball on his chest while being challenged from behind by an Arnett Gardens opponent during their Wray and Nephew National Premier League football match at the Anthony Spaulding Sports Complex, yesterday. Arnett Gardens won 3-2. - IAN ALLEN/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
ARNETT GARDENS, playing with a one-man advantage for 72 minutes, edged Boys' Town 3-2 in their Wray and Nephew National Premier League (NPL) game at the Anthony Spaulding Sports Complex yesterday.
In an exciting encounter, the home team struck early when Kwame Richardson scored directly from a corner kick in the fifth minute and Gregg Taylor chesting home a cross from Richardson in the 16th minute.
Two minutes later, the visitors were down to 10 men when Garfield Gillespie struck Wayne Ellis in front of referee Dave Peterkin and was duly red carded.
But Boys' Town, a man down and trailing 0-2 after only 18 minutes, showed a lot of character and rallied to level the scores by half-time.
In the 37th minute former national Under-20 striker Michael Campbell scored a beauty. He stripped Patrick Graham of possession just outside the box, then turned Gerald Neil inside out before calmly slotting home.
Then on the stroke of half-time, Campbell latched on to a George Vernal right-sided cross to tap home, levelling the scoreline at 2-2.
GOAL DISALLOWED
In fact, Boys' Town had a goal disallowed in the 33rd minute when Vernal had the ball in the back of the net only for the referee to rule offside.
However, Arnett Gardens would not be denied and substitute Jonathan Williams pounced to slot home after goalkeeper, Philmore Crumbie failed to hold onto a torrid shot from Cornel Chin-Sue that dipped infront of him.
The red and black clad Junglists thus secured their first win of the second round to remain in sixth position on 25 points and coach Michael Tulloch was a relieved man.
"It's a refreshing win after not winning for the entire second round. The guys went very hard today in terms of the energy and the effort that they put out," said Tulloch.
Meanwhile, Boys Town, as courageous as they might be, lost for the sixth time this season to remain on 17 points, four points ahead of the relegation zone.
Losing coach Andrew Price praised his players for sheer determination after playing with 10 men for well over one hour.
"Losing that man early in the first half was always going to be a tough order, but I think the team showed a lot of character coming from two goals down. It's always a hard game when you play 10 against 11," Price pointed out.
In the Under-21 encounter, Arnett Gardens thumped their neigbours 4-1 to take the double.
GOALSHEET
Arnett Gardens 3
(Kwame Richardson 5th, Gregg Taylor 16th, Jonathan Williams 82nd).
Boys' Town 2
(Michael Campbell 37th and 45th).
