EFFORTVILLE, Clarendon — Sporting Central Academy’s (SCA’s) future in the Digicel Premier League was further thrown into the deep yesterday as their goalless draw with Humble Lion in the Clarendon ‘derby’ at Effortville did little to ease their relegation fears.

With the point, the youthful Sporting team inched to 37 points, but remain among the bottom two who will be demoted to the Super League in a matter of weeks.

Coach Vassel Reynolds, however, thinks all is not lost: “What we tell ourselves is that we wanted to get at least a point if the three wasn’t there,” he said.

“This now puts us in a position where we still have a chance with the last two games, so we just need to win those… games and hope for the best,” said Reynolds, who added that his team had a below par performance.

For Humble Lion, while the point was not ideal, it was more appreciated as they continue to sit at least three points clear of the drop zone on 42.

“I think we played well in spurts and… in a derby situation it’s never really a classic, but today you could see the effort from the team… and I thought we got the clearer chances,” said Christopher Bender, coach of Humble Lion.

Following the pace set by the three previous ‘derby’ games, the teams started with a purpose and had a number of chances before the game was 20 minutes old.

Sporting’s Levaughn Williams skimmed the crossbar with a speculative effort inside the first 10 minutes, while Humble Lion’s Kimroy Davis twice came close to giving his team the lead.

He fired a right-footed free-kick inches wide of the left upright on 15 minutes, then hit a left-footed grounder wide of the right post with only Sporting’s goalie Andre Blake to beat.

Humble Lion — Shawn Sawyers, Damian Barrett, Roberto Fletcher (Narado Brown 73rd), Phillip Fearon (Loxley Thomas 76th), Omando McLeod Omar Walters, Ricardo Campbell, Jeffery Baker, Kirk Duckworth, Kimroy Davis, Owen Gordon

Subs not used: S Brown, S Coleman, E Wilkie, D Sterling, R Williams

Booked: Baker (12th)

Sporting — Andre Blake, Levaughn Williams Damarly Samuels 89th), Kadian Wynter, Jevaughn Watson, Dale Watson, Akeem Annakie, Romaine Barnes, Camaal Reid, Andre Allen (Francois Swaby 59th), Jermaine Christian (Hughan Gray 68th), Gregory Lewis

Subs not used: T Huntley, J Powell, T Alves, D Campbell

Booked: Barnes (23rd), J Watson (72nd)

Referee: Dave Peterkin Assistants: Mark Sullivan, Shane Harrison Fourth Official: Cardella Samuels Match Commissary: David Galloway.