St Augustine clinch SSFL Big Five title

Joel Henry handed St Augustine a lifeline in the last minute of the match, beating the off-side trap and then "Tigers" goalkeeper Jamaal Francois, to tie the affair at 2-2 and send the match to penalties.

St Anthony's skipper Dwight Ceballo missed his kick first up, meaning his team were always behind in the shootout.

Kyle Bartholomew scored the final kick to make it official: St Augustine repeat as Big Five champs.

St Anthony's might have felt unlucky as they dominated almost all 90 minutes of the game. But skipper Theon James scored in the 77th to halve their two-goal deficit.

The luck went with St Augustine as well, who also had more than an extra minute past the suggested three minutes of stoppage time, and they made it count with their final play.

The victory hands them the record of the most national league titles in Secondary Schools Football League (SSFL) history--seven.

Having suffered through the first half, St Augustine would have counted themselves lucky to still have a chance after 90 minutes.

The Green Machine's tactics of patience may have been what backfired on them during the first half. The Tigers pressed for that early goal, and left-winger Andel Francois in particular provided a headache for St Augustine.

In just the fourth minute McIvor could have opened the goal-scoring, but his low drive trickled agonisingly wide of the St Augustine near post on the left with goalkeeper Kerron Jones already beaten.

And after a few raids, St Anthony's got the early goal for which they had been searching.

Adrian Millette made a lightning run to the edge of the box and collected a through pass to his right, before stabbing his right-footer past Jones to spark celebrations from the boys in red and black.

A few minutes later the Tigers could have gone further ahead, as they seemed to be just toying with their prey, passing the ball in and around the St Augustine defence as the boys in white fought unsuccessfully to clear.

Even when St Augustine did have the chances they could not find the net, as Kevin Seebrun was denied by keeper Francois, before skipper James booted over from six metres.

In the 33rd McIvor made it 2-0 St Anthony's after St Augustine had given away the ball midway in their own half.

Millette grabbed the loose ball and played a one-two with Dion Manswell, before turning to his left and threading a pass through the box for the onrushing McIvor. He beat Jones and a defender to the ball by a toe and chipped home.

They took that 2-0 lead to the break and again started the second half strongly. Zavion Navarro could have pulled one back for St Augustine in the 58th, though, but he shot over from point-blank range after collecting the rebound from a poor clearance.

Francois (A) wove his way into the St Augustine box and they scrambled to clear, while Millette also had a chance to get the ball into the net, but was closed down in front of goal.

Against the run of play, James, who had been labouring down the left flank all match long, got his team back into the match.

A bad defensive mix up left Jamaal Francois scrambling for the ball and the goalkeeper could not grab it cleanly. James forced the rebound to the right of the near post and found the right angle to beat the goalie.

St Anthony's sought to wind down the clock and did so by keeping possession in St Augustine's area and holding up the ball at the corner flag.

That ploy backfired, as almost four and a half minutes into stoppage time, St Augustine found themselves with room behind the already-celebrating Tigers and Henry beat the offside trap and spanked home from close range to give the match a fitting thriller ending.

They held their nerve in the penalty shoot-out and were able to lift their record seventh trophy.