Dwight Nelson, Gleaner Writer

A last-gasp winner from Wayne Ellis enabled Boys' Town to register a 3-2 victory over Sporting Central Academy, in their Digicel Premier League eighth round match at Brancourt yesterday.

It was a very fast-paced and physical game in which both teams exhibited a high level of quality and workman-like football.

The Boys' Town team made an early attack in the fifth minute when Denzil Watson went into Sporting Central's goal area, before passing to Oniel McDonald who fired a cracker, which Sporting custodian Erron Brown held.

Marching orders

Boys' Town coach Andrew Price was given marching orders by referee Kevin Thomas in the seventh minute after he launched a verbal attack on the referee for failure to acknowledge an infringement against one of his players.

However, his team continued playing well and scored at the 16th minute when McDonald drove into the Sporting Central goal area, dismissed two defenders, then rolled the ball nicely to Renae Lloyd, who fired a cracker from inside the box to beat Sporting custodian Brown and put his team in the lead.

Sporting, not to be outdone, drew level in the 36th minute after Donovan Peart stole the ball from a defender on the edge of the box then dribbled into the box, dismissed Boys' Town custodian Kirk Porter, before firing into an empty goal.

First goal

Both teams came out attacking after the break, but it was Sporting Central who scored first, in the 51st minute, when Peart picked up a ball in the Boys' Town goal area, went by two defenders before passing the ball across the goal for the unmarked Damarley Samuels to fire into the back of the net.

Boys' Town drew level in the 80th minute with a classic strike by Michael Campbell, who rifled a powerful shot from the edge of the Sporting Central 18-yard box, that flew like a rocket into the pigeon hole.

The homesters tried desperately to regain the lead, but could not achieve that feat. Instead, Boys' Town etched its name on the scorecard again, in the 90th minute, through Ellis' goal from a melee in the Sporting Central goal area.

"It's a very important victory for us today and the team really showed their character as they have been doing since the start of the season," winning coach Price said.

He added: "When we concede we never say die, and we really rolled back to take this victory."

Sporting Central's coach, Chris Dawes, said: "We got the chances to put away the game. However, we did not make use of them."

He added: "We just have to recover quickly from this loss and prepare ourselves for our next game."