Santos, Boys Town draw

André Lowe, Senior Staff Reporter

Theirs is a long and storied rivalry, but when old foes Santos and Boys' Town met at the Bell-Chung Oval in yesterday's Claro/KSAFA Jackie Bell first-leg quarter-finals matchup, the gloss of the past must have been lost on both sets of players as they battled to a sometimes barely watchable 1-1 tie.

So after 90 minutes of football, there is still all to play for when both teams resume their rivalry on February 2 in the return leg at Boys' Town's Collie Smith Drive home ground.

"They (Boys' Town) weren't motivated for this match and it's going to always be hard when you play lesser opponents to get people motivated, even if that team is Santos," said a smiling Andrew Price, Boys' Town's coach. "It's an away tie, so it's good to leave here with an away goal so at least that's an advantage and we feel comfortable with it."

It was a tense start from both teams and it wasn't until the 20th minute that there was any real action in the goal areas, Santos' Fabian Nethersole placing a tame effort at Boys' Town goalkeeper Kirk Porter. The play opened up somewhat afterwards but the play was particularly untidy and neither team managed to create much.

Price brought on a few of his first-team players in the second half and one of them paid immediate dividends; Anthony Bennett latching on to a stylish back-heeled pass from Dean Thompson, before shooting beyond Santos keeper Denzil Issacs for a 1-0 B

With time ticking away, Fabian Nethersole secured hope for his team, outsprinting and then weaving his way between a pair of defenders, before placing his shot out of Porter's reach in the 84th minute to equalise.

Santos' coach, Carlton 'Spanner' Dennis, was pleased with his team's effort.

"I think we played well, I think we surprised Boys' Town. They came here thinking that they would come here and walk over us, but we certainly rose to the occasion. We are going to Boys' Town and we know that we are behind the eight ball, but we are going there to fight."

In yesterday's other early game, Waterhouse defeated Police National 4-2 at Constant Spring.