HEREDIA, Costa Rica (CMC) – Trent Noel’s injury-time goal snatched a late draw for Trinidadian Pro League side Joe Public, in their opening preliminary round match of the CONCACAF Champions League against Brujas on Wednesday night. With Joe Public heading for defeat with the final whistle moments away, Noel beat goalkeeper Luis Diego Sequeira with a delightful right-booter to earn a 2-2 result for the visitors at the Jorge Cuty Monge Stadium.
Joe Public went behind early in the piece, giving up a goal in the second minute when Andres Nunez netted. Jose Luis Cordero fired a low cross along the 18-yard box that Nunez pounced on and guided past Joe Public goalkeeper Glenroy Samuel.
The visitors responded almost immediately when Japanese midfielder Yu Hoshide ran onto a loose ball and unleashed a thunderous right-booter that struck the far post.
That disappointment was quickly overshadowed, however, as Hoshide featured as Joe Public levelled one minute later.
It was his cross into the goal area which found an unmarked national player Kerry Baptiste who was able to nod past Sequeira in the 13th to take a 1-1 score line into the changing rooms at halftime.
A Samuels howler then gifted the hosts a 2-1 lead in the 66th minute. Cordero aimed a free kick off the right flank into the box and Samuel left his line, flapped at the high ball but ended up tipping it into his own goal.
Though Joe Public searched for the equaliser, Brujas held firm and it appeared as if they had earned themselves full points as the game went into injury-time.
However, Micah Lewis carved a hole in the Brujas defence off the right wing, turned his marker before finding Noel arriving at the top of the opposite corner of the 18-yard box. Finding the time to control, Noel curled a volley past the Brujas custodian to shock the hosts.
The T&T unit will now return home with two important away goals for the second leg on August 5 as the winner on aggregate advances to Group B for the next stage of the competition.