Even the losing coach sang his praises after a brilliant strike from Boys' Town's Hugh Evans handed his team a 1-0 win over neighbours Arnett Gardens in a 26th-round Red Stripe Premier league match on Wednesday at the Anthony Spaulding Sports Complex.

The left-back blasted home the game's lone goal in the 79th minute, as his 30-yard scorcher flew past the diving Arnett Gardens' goalkeeper, Damion Hyatt.

"I think we played a very good game, but we lost through a good goal," Arnett Gardens' coach, Calvin Lewis, said. "It was a defensive breakdown, as there was no one pressuring the ball, but it was a beautiful strike and we can't take that away from him (Evans)."

The goal was Evans' first in this his second season in the Premier League with Boys' Town.

"I know I can strike the ball well and I just tried my luck and it paid off for me," Evans shared.

The 18-year-old ranks his wonder strike even above the role he played in helping the young Reggae Boyz to qualify for the CONCACAF Under-20 Championship.

"This is my proudest moment in football," Evans, who was not selected in the young Reggae Boyz squad to the championships due to a groin injury, told The Gleaner.

needed this win

The Andrew Price-coached Boys' Town now sit on 43 points, 12 behind league leaders Harbour View (55). Arnett Gardens remain fourth with 40 points.

"We were tied on the same amount of points as Arnett, so we really needed this win to separate ourselves from them and keep us close to the leaders," Price reasoned before going on to laud Evans.

"I am definitely pleased with Hugh (Evans), he had a very good game today and he topped it off by spanking in what can be considered one of the goals of the season. It is the type of goal you want to win games with."

The first half of the game was aggressively contested with not much emphasis placed on playing football, as both teams exchanged rough tackles. This carried over into the second stanza with former Boys' Town player, Oneil 'Bigga' Thompson, who switched clubs in January, being at the heart of it all. Thompson and Boys' Town's inform player, Renae Lloyd, had a heated exchange in the 50th minute which ended in blows, but they were astonishingly only shown yellow cards.

Arnett Gardens' Marcelino Blackburn and Boys' Town's Garfield Gillespie were not as lucky, however, as they were sent off by referee Courtney Campbell in the 51st minute after they, too, traded blows.

ryon.jones@gleanerjm.com