Boys' Town annihilate Santos 8-1

It was a massacre inside the Collie Smith venue yesterday afternoon as Boys' Town and old foes Santos squared off in the quarter-final stage of the Claro/KSAFA Jackie Bell Knockout competition, with the hosts dismissing their lower-league opponents 8-1 on the day and 9-2 on aggregate, to set up a mouth-watering semi-final clash with Harbour View this Sunday.

Harbour View drew 2-2 at Tivoli Gardens, to emerge on the away goals rule in the all-Premier League matchup, after their first-leg tie had ended 0-0 at Harbour View Mini Stadium.

Ranique Muir (45+) and Andre Steele (55th) had given Harbour View a 2-0 cushion, before substitute Roland Dean (66th) and Christopher Jackson pulled back goals for homesters Tivoli.

In the other semi-final, Arnett Gardens will play Waterhouse, who blanked Police National 5-0 at Waterhouse Mini Stadium. Arnett drew their return-leg encounter 0-0 against Greenwich Town at Tinson Pen yesterday. The Junglists thus advanced 2-0 on aggregate, following their first-leg home win by a similar margin.

Massive win

Boys' Town's massive win belies the close nature of the first leg, which ended in a 1-1 scoreline at the Bell Chung Oval last week. However, in truth it could have been far worse for the Vineyard Town-based Santos team, considering the hosts' many misses in front of goal.

It's hard to believe that this game was interestingly poised at one goal apiece at one point, as in the 31st minute Santos' Richard West pulled his team level from the penalty spot after Anthony Dawes had given the Red Brigade the lead in the 27th minute.

However, the celebrations on the Santos bench were short-lived, as three minutes later Daemion Benjamin stepped up to send his 22-yard free kick into the net and past Santos' goalkeeper, Denzil Isaacs.

The Boys' Town faithful were still in strong voice when striker Dean Thompson buried a parried save from Isaacs off a powerful Oniel Thompson strike, to extend the lead in the 36th minute.

Xavian Virgo (50th) and the excellent Jamiel Hardware chip (58th), Renae Lloyd (60th), Anthony Bennett (78th) and an 86th-minute penalty kick from goalkeeper Kirk Porter, who refused to be left out of the party, rounded out a miserable day for the Santos outfit.

"We went flat after the goal, we didn't play well at all and it's a learning experience for most of the guys," said Santos' coach, Carlton 'Spanner' Dennis. "We will have to

find a way to lift the team after this defeat."

His counterpart, Andrew Price, said: "The movement, I think, was the key to this win today. We showed some great finishing technique today and this is the type of accuracy that I like to see; people getting behind people and scoring goals."