MAY PEN, Clarendon — Jamalco FC upstaged defending champions Humble Lion to win their first Clarendon FA/Noel Arscott Knockout title after registering a come-from-behind 4-2 victory in Wednesday night’s final at the Effortville Community Centre.

Huggarth Nugent was the star of the show, scoring a second-half hat-trick to spearhead Jamalco’s triumph, after Levaughn Williams had given Humble Lion a 2-0 half-time lead.

Andrew Isaacs, a former Humble Lion player, was also on target for Jamalco whose victory could well represent a turning point in Clarendon football. This being the first time in six years that a non-Premier League team has won the parish’s knockout trophy.

“We saw this game as a closer,” said Jamalco Coach Rayon Johnson.

“Our main aim was to qualify for the Premier League. Missing out on that was disappointing, so we decided that we wanted to end the season on a high. And to win the knockout title is really a tremendous achievement because playing Humble Lion is always a tough task.”

Jamalco’s success also ended Humble Lion’s five-year dominance of this competition.

But after 45 minutes on Wednesday night, that record looked anything but fragile. The Red Stripe Premier League side had put themselves in a strong position to record a sixth-successive victory after two goals from Williams, in the 26th and 42nd minutes, established a 2-0 cushion going into the break.

Astonishingly, however, that advantage would only last for seven minutes.

Entering the pitch as a second-half substitute, Nugent would reduce the deficit in the 50th minute. And just two minutes later, his strike partner, Isaacs, would pull Jamalco level to stun the home crowd into silence. Nugent then completed a thrilling comeback for the Super League outfit in the 67th minute before netting his hat-trick in the 83rd.

Despite the defeat, Humble Lion, Clarendon’s lone Premier League representatives, will join Jamalco in next season’s all-island knockout competition.