Ryon Jones, Gleaner Writer

Boys Town are still in contention to make the second end-of-round final, despite playing to a 1-1 draw with bottom-placed August Town at UWI Bowl yesterday, in the 20th round of the Digicel Premier League.

The result moved Boys Town's second-round tally to 17 points, the same as second-place Harbour View which suffered a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Humble Lions.

August Town started off the game in a sprightly manner and were rewarded in the 11th minute when Nicholas Smith scored directly from a corner.

Wasted opportunities

The home team appeared to have been deserving of a penalty, three minutes before half-time when Boys Town's Shawn McKoy appeared to have offended Akeem Thenstead in the box, but the referee only awarded a corner.

In the second half, August Town started as they had ended the first but failed to convert the opportunities that they created. The clearest came in the 50th minute when a free kick was floated into the box, which Devon Hibbert controlled before getting off a shot which struck the crossbar; it rebounded to Thenstead whose header also found the crossbar.

They would be made to rue these misses when they failed to clear a Michael Campbell square in the 79th minute, allowing an unmarked Peter Keys to slam home his fifth goal of the season from close range.

Coach disappointed

Andrew Price, coach of Boys Town, was very disappointed with his team's performance.

"(I am) extremely disappointed, the team have to be serious about the Premier League," Price said. If you want to win the Premier League, these are the games you have to win," he added.

August Town's coach, Paul Young, however, took heart from the result.

"We want to win our home games but Boys Town is a top four team so it is not a bad result," Young said. "We need to do some more work in the gym and also some conditioning work; our physical condition needs to be improved," he added.