A superb 89th-minute strike by Zico Herrera earned Humble Lion a 1-1 draw away to Rivoli United at the Spanish Town Prison Oval in Digicel Premier League action yesterday.

The result ensures that Humble Lion and Rivoli United remain in the eighth and ninth positions in the 12-team standing on 38 points each, in the fight against relegation.

Herrera displayed much skill to control a floated pass by substitute Sean Coleman, before firing his low 30-yard shot to the right of Rivoli’s diving custodian Marlon Henry.

The Clarendon-based team, which fell behind on a controversial goal 11 minutes ahead of the half-time interval, had controlled much of the second half with Damion Barrett and Owen Gordon coming close to scoring in the 75th and 79th minutes.

Barrington Planter had given Rivoli United the lead in the 34th minute, which resulted in a protest by the Humble Lion team.

Planter seemed to have beaten the offside trap, while running onto Fabian Gordon’s forward pass, to lob the ball over the advancing goalkeeper Shawn Sawyers.

Humble Lion’s coach Chris Bender expressed satisfaction about the fighting spirit displayed by his team, even with just two minutes remaining in the match.

“Overall I just have to congratulate the team on their never-say-die spirit in this match, as we kept going at them in the second half and we knew something would have given,” Bender said.

His opposite number, Oneal Thomas, was livid about his team’s poor defending in the dying minutes of the match.

“A just lack of indepth concentration that cost us today… because we mentioned that before the game even start, that is one of the things that may beat us, if we don’t keep the concentration to the end,” Thomas said. “We crowded in front of the ball, but we did not block-up the shooting lane and we should have really done that,” the Rivoli coach added.

Teams: Rivoli United — Marlon Henry, Omar Parker, Christopher Hayles, David Lewis (Abayomi Daquilar 90th), Barrington Planter, Kirk Ramsay, Devon Powell, Luke Soares (Kemar Brown 60th), Mark Newsome, Fabian Gordon, Calbert Coke.

Booked: D Lewis (36th), B Planter (77th).

Subs not used: Leon Goffe, Ricard Knight, Derrick Planter, Talmar Warren, Martin King.

Humble Lion — Shawn Sawyers, Kimoy Davis (Sean Coleman 66th), Damion Barrett, Owen Gordon, Jeffrey Baker (Omar Walters 62nd), Omando McLeod, Roberto Fletcher, Denzil Watson (Narado Brown 28th), Rupert Lewin, Kirk Duckworth, Zico Herrera.

Booked: J Baker (38th)

Subs not used: Phillip Fearon, Rohan Williams, Loxley Thomas, Sheldon Brown.

Referee: Oneal Clayton

Assistant Referees: Stephen Brown, Mark Sullivan.

Fourth Official: Carvel Banton

Match Commissary: Ainsley Sharpe.