It took 110 minutes of open play and 17 penalties.
But the final outcome would have been all that mattered to St Augustine Secondary as they eked out an 8-7 win on penalties against Mucurapo Senior Comprehensive yesterday at the Larry Gomes Stadium in Malabar in their BG T&T SSFL Big Five semi-final.
To be fair, the game was more attractive for its spirited play than for its brilliant football. The scores had remained deadlocked at 0-0 after 90 minutes of regulation play and 20 additional minutes of extra-time.
Not exactly the exciting affair that previous years of SSFL National playoff football had produced.
But the more than 4,000 spectators would agree that both the Green Machine and Mucurapo let it all hang out in their encounter.
And as with any playoff match, there had to be an eventual winner.
Mucurapo substitute Sherwon Jack broke under the pressure of seeing 16 penalties before him and sent his spot kick sailing overbar.
Almost immediately, the 'Gustine players went wildly running towards their keeper Nigel Parris as festive celebrations erupted on the field and in the stands.
The reactions were more a deep sigh of relief than total happiness, given that the Warren Street outfit had wasted earlier opportunities.
Their premier striker Shane "German" Calderon, who had by his standards an off-day, and Shastri Spencer had at least three good chances between them to put their team on the scorecard.
Calderon had his near-range header well-saved by Mucurapo goalkeeper Nigel Thomas, while Spencer first hit straight at the keeper after he had intercepted then weaved his way through the Mucurapo defence for a one-on-one opportunity.
Mucurapo nearly clipped it when Jack, seconds after coming on for Keshawn Hunte, forced a good reflex save from Parris with four minutes remaining.
But both teams failed to get the decisive goal in a game that saw Gustine dominate the first period, followed by a Mucurapo revival in the second.
It caused the need for the penalty shootout, in which Jack buckled.
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