Kesnal DuVerger picked himself up after being fouled by Ewers and scored the penalty to give the Haitians a 2-0 lead. Photo credit: Charlie Jackson/VINO

Sanderson scored twice including a superb volley in the first half to give the Panthers a share of the points. Photo credit: Charlie Jackson/VINO

Time and time again the resilient Haitians defended with great determination, none less than Phillips in goal who made several crucial saves. Photo credit: Charlie Jackson/VINO

In past times the Haitians would have folded long before the final whistle as they faced an attacking onslaught throughout the game, but the new look team held firm  and came away with a share of the points as the Panthers were unable to find a winning goal in the dying minutes of an epic struggle.

“We have stepped up this year,” commented James Felix who put in a Trojan performance in the first half before coming off injured in the second period. “We are practicing, putting in the hard work and we got together as a team and said we need to stop losing this season.”

The Haitians took a surprising two goal lead, first through James St Aime and then from a Kesnal DuVerger penalty.

The opener came on 8 minutes following a pass from Checeed Francis who found Cleon Griffin with enough space to cross inch perfect to St Aime. He controlled the ball and then lobbed the advancing Erron Ewers sending the ball into the empty net.

Just 5 minutes later Reuben Stoby won the ball just inside the Haitian half, he played the ball into the path of Griffin who, spotting the run of DuVerger, laid the ball inside the last line of defenders. Ewers missed his first attempted interception, but DuVerger's shot was blocked. As the ball rebounded back to DuVerger, Ewers made another desperate attempted save, but only succeeded in bringing down DuVerger, giving the Referee no hesitation in pointing to the spot. DuVerger picked himself up and confidently struck his shot past the diving Ewers.

The Panthers piled on the pressure and were rewarded two minutes later when the unmarked Nigel Sanderson finished off a Rudolph Davis deep cross to the far post with an unstoppable volley that flew into the net beyond Daniel Phillip to give the Panthers a lifeline.

“He’s a special player,” noted Mark Hall. “He’s being scoring those type of spectacular goals for us for a couple of seasons now and is on a roll, so let’s hope he continues.”

Sanderson had another wonder strike denied for offside as he trapped the ball on his chest and almost in one movement swung his foot through the ball to send it flashing into the top corner.

As the half drew to a close Stoby reacted first to deny Odean Thompson a clear shot on goal from six yards and Felix was on hand to deny Sanderson after Carlroy Douglas missed an attempted clearance.

With just a one goal advantage the Haitians were forced into rear guard action for almost the whole second half as the Panthers, taking advantage of a strong wind at their backs mounted a siege on the Haitian goal.

The sound of the Drum Core at the Althea Scatliffe Primary School Christmas Concert seemed to spur the Panthers on.

Shots went wide, hit the side netting, corners were stoically cleared, free kicks curled ever closer to the target and Phillips flung himself at everything that came his way to deny the Panthers, but just when it seemed all 3 points would end up with the Haitians up popped Sanderson to fire home yet another acrobatic volley and level the scores.

Panthers number 20, which was unassigned to a player on the team sheet, swung a free kick towards the far post where the leaping Sanderson stuck out his boot and made good contact to send a net bulger past Phillips.

A series of corners threatened to give the Panthers a winner, but the Haitians held firm and thoroughly deserved a share of the points.

“We played well in the first half but fell away in the second,” commented Sanderson “but we did enough to earn a point so are fairly pleased.”

 Hall thought the Panthers should have secured all 3 points, but was satisfied not to lose having gone 2 down early on “we had more possession and more chances, but unfortunately were unable to find the winner.”