Marc Stamp, Gleaner Writer

Boys' Town Football Club, led by a brace from Marvin Stewart, handed Sporting Central Academy a 4-2 defeat in the Red Stripe Premier League (RSPL) football match yesterday at Collie Smith Drive Complex.

Stewart, who had an outstanding game, netted in the 28th and 90+2 minutes for the Red Brigade. Shane Edwards opened the scoring for Boys' Town when he headed past goalkeeper Sanchez Lloyd in the second minute.

Sporting Central fought back with two quick penalties. First, Boys' Town central defender, Nicholas McMorris, fouled Camaal Reid inside the 18-yard box. Bahamian FIFA referee Wilson Dacosta pointed to the penalty spot. Jamoly Powell stepped up and converted the resulting penalty kick, beating Boys' Town's goalkeeper Kirk Porter in the seventh minute.

Penalty

Ten minutes later, Sporting received another penalty for another foul and Powell again easily converted to put the Clarendon-based team 2-1 ahead. However, Stewart netted the equaliser from a good buildup when he beat Lloyd.

Referee Dacosta awarded his third penalty of the game, this time to Boys' Town after Stewart was brought down in Sporting's area. McMorris slotted the spot kick past Lloyd to put Boys' Town ahead in the 70th minute.

Then Stewart sealed the deal when he calmly beat the Sporting goalkeeper in time added. Referee Dacosta, who was assisted by his Bahamian counterpart Sean Thompson and Jamaican Lloyd Edwards, had a busy game in a bruising contest that saw six yellow cards issued.

"We worked hard in training. We practised certain plays and they played out today (yesterday). It was important to get three points at home," Stewart, the Man of the Match, told The Gleaner.

"It was a good team effort. We will continue to play each game hard and see where it takes us at the end of the season. We will fight all the way as we are a team that doesn't give up," Stewart said.

Boys' Town's coach, Andrew Price, lauded Stewart for his performance.

"Marvin Stewart was good enough for us today (yesterday). He is one of the players who had to step up now that other players have left the programme. He is going to have to show up more often in games," Price said.

Price also said that his team made hard work of the game.

"We made hard work of it, got an early goal and went up 1-0. We then got a bit complacent and gave away two penalties, which brought them back into the game," Price added. "At half-time, I instructed the team to be more aggressive and they came out and got two goals to win the game. In the second half, we played a bit better, looked a lot slicker. We will just continue to accumulate points and try and see how we can pressure the leaders."

Sporting Central Academy assistant coach, Howard 'Max' Straw, was disappointed with his team.

"We are very disappointed as we conceded early and took the lead. We stopped playing after we got the two goals and let them back into the game," Straw reasoned.

"We were passing the ball slickly, but we stopped. We gave Boys' Town too much space and they scored two more goals," the coach pointed out.

Yesterday's Results

Highgate 1

Carlos Barrett pen.

Arnett 2

Leon Strickland

Kirk Ramsay

Humble Lion 2

Sean Coleman

Wolry Wolfe

MoBay United 0

Cavalier 0

Savannah 0

Tivoli Gardens 0

Harbour View 0

Today's game

9:15 p.m. Portmore United vs Waterhouse at Ferdie Neita Park