HUMBLE Lion were dealt a cruel hand when they conceded a dramatic late penalty that gave defending champions Boys’ Town a lifeline in their Flow Champions Cup match, which forced the contest into extra time and penalties at Collie Smith Drive on Wednesday.

Tied 1-1 after regulation time and with the scores unchanged after extra time, the usual penalties were employed to break the deadlock. In the end it favoured Boys’ Town 4-3, which earned them a place in the last eight of the tournament.

Boys’ Town scorers were goalkeeper Kirk Porter, Renae Lloyd, Daemon Benjamin, and Oneil Thompson, while Michael Campbell’s shot was saved by Humble Lion goalkeeper Chris Loudin.

On target for Humble Lion were Pete Brown, Ricardo Campbell and Tyrone Sawyers, while Kirk Duckworth kicked wide of the rectangle and Julien Nugent steered his shot high and into the settlement nearby.

During regulation play, the visitors had taken an auspicious lead in the 43rd minute courtesy of a Denzil Watson strike, but when it appeared the Clarendon-based side were on their way to victory, FIFA referee Kevin Morrison in 90-plus minutes awarded Boys’ Town a penalty that triggered protestations from players and supporters alike.

In the midst of grumbling of the referee’s decision, Boys’ Town captain Michael Campbell took great pleasure in burying the 12-yard spot kick that brought his team back from the brink.

Humble Lion coach Lenworth Hyde was a disappointed man, who rued the manner in which his team bowed out of the national knock-out tournament where his team was a finalists last year. Incidentally, it was Boys’ Town to whom they lost in that final.

“That penalty in time added looked a way (questionable), but such is the game… we are very disappointed to be (going out) of such a prestigious competition like this seeing that we went to the final last year, so to lose in such a manner is very disappointed,” said a grieving Hyde.

Despite that, he though his team should have done better with their one-man advantage after Boys’ Town lost Anthony Bennett in the 85th minute.

“We should have scored a goal when we had the numerical advantage, but we didn’t have the killer instinct and that kept Boys’ Town in the game,” noted Hyde, who has struggled at Humble Lion after his enviable record of successes as a Premier League coach.

Boys’ Town assistant coach Omar Edwards said at no point he was worried that his team would have lost the game.

“My team has no intention of bowing out of this competition, they will play to the final whistle in every match and that’s what they did… when we went down to 10 men, my men stood up and showed fight and character, ” he said.

Having won the championship in back-to-back seasons, Edwards says the Cup belongs to Collie Smith Drive and the ‘Red Brigade’ have every intention of defending the title yet again.

“We have won the Flow Cup back-to-back, and once we win it in our third season, it will then be the Boys’ Town Cup,” said the young coach, who was in charge of the team in the absence of technical director Andrew Price.