In Your Neighbourhood
Published:Saturday | April 16, 2011 | 12:00 AM
Monymusk, Bodles eye Confed semis
With champions Meadows and Rivoli already confirmed for the South Central Confed Super League semi-finals, Clarendon's Monymusk and St Catherine's Naggo Head appear favourites to land the other two.
In Zone B, Monymusk could only muster a 0-0 draw with relegation-bound Tru-Juice; however, they were helped by Down's 1-0 loss to Naggo Head. With just two rounds to be completed, Monymusk hold a four-point lead on nearest challengers Downs. Despite the home win secured by Radeen Bennett's 70th minute strike, Naggo Head, fourth on 18 points, are out of contention. Downs, who are a point better, have a mathematical chance but will have to hope Monymusk lose all their remaining games.
In Zone A, the race to cop the second semi-final place is hot with Bodles, narrowly favoured. Bodles were good enough to travel to Monk Street and earn a point in a 0-0 battle with Rivoli. Only a point separate Bodles, Newland and De la Vega.
In other results from last round: Andre Waugh's 8th-minute goal helped Mile Gully resurrect their hopes of avoiding relegation with a 1-0 over similarly threatened New Bowens while Newland and De la Vega ended 0-0. The Newell-Meadows encounter was not played due to the death of the Meadows head coach.
Games on this weekend: Today: Bodles vs Mile Gully; Newland vs Rivoli; Monymusk vs Meadows. Tomorrow - De la Vega vs New Bowens; Downs vs Newell; Tru-Juice vs Naggo Head.
Under-20 matches will precede Super League games.
Tafari Lions, Super Action to contest final
The St Elizabeth FA Major League season, sponsored by Wray & Nephew, will come to a close tomorrow with the playing of the final at St Elizabeth Technical (STETHS) ground.
Tafari Lions and Super Action will contest that final which starts at 3 p.m. and involves allocation for extra time and penalties if necessary.
Tafari Lions booked their place despite losing their return-leg semi-final 1-0 to Appleton. Their 2-0 first-leg victory, secured by Kemar Smith's brace at the New Town Centre in Black River, gave them 2-1 aggregate win.
On Sunday, April 10 at the STETHS ground, Keino Smith scored a beautiful header from a right-sided cross by Andre Berry in the 52nd minute to give Appleton a glimmer of hope. Despite coming close on a number of occasions, the Appleton team, coached by national Under-20 coach Andrew Edwards, failed to find another that would have extended their life in the competition.
Super Action, who were 0-1 down from the first-leg final held the previous week, won the tie 2-1 on aggregate, after storming through to defeat Black River 2-0.
Woodhall beat Gimme-me-bit
Woodhall slowed Gimme-me-bit's march to the Claro/Captain's Bakery Clarendon Major League title, after Tega Campbell scored to beat the league leaders 1-0 in the feature match of last weekend's round.
Woodhall have now moved to 26 points limiting Gimme-me-bit's overall lead to just five points. Mid-season finalists Spartan Athletic are next with 25 - pegged back - after they were surprisingly held to a 0-0 draw by seventh-place team York Town.
In the key matchup in the mid-tables, Trevor Bryan netted a hat-trick (9th, 33rd, 68th) as Longwood blanked Free Town 3-0. The win pushed Longwood to sixth spot with 7 points.
Today's games: Original Hazard vs York Town at Mineral Heights; Free Town vs Gimme-me-bit.
Tomorrow: Rock River vs Longwood at Clarendon College; Woodhall vs Milk River; and Gayle vs Spartan Athletic.
Hillstars gain on New Green
Mid-season champions Hillstars produced two wins in five days to whittle New Green's lead to just one point in the Captain's Bakery-sponsored Manchester Major League.
Kenroy Mullings featured as a scorer in the two wins. The first came away at Hanbury last Saturday when Hillstars beat Young Diamonds 2-1. However, their finest moment in the week came on Thursday when they handed the league leaders a 1-0 loss. The loss was a setback for New Green who had recorded a strong 3-0 win over Kendal on the weekend to move to 29 points.
In another significant result from Thursday, Comfort handed third-place Porus (25 pts) a 3-0 spanking. It was a huge improvement from sixth-place Comfort who had suffered similarly at the hands of Star Liner at the weekend.
Also on Thursday, relegation bound Mandeville United battled to a 0-0 draw with Kendal while it was the same result between Porus and Georges Valley.
Hopewell keep perfect start
Hopewell maintained their perfect start to the Power Services Company Limited (PSCL) sponsored Manchester Division Two competition after tagging Lynhurst 3-0 and make it four straight wins.
Allied have, however, now joined the spotlight after stopping Fairfield 2-0 - their third victory on the trot. In other results from this week, Tri Star edged Harmons 1-0, so did Clandon Strikers over Flavour. The May Day/Villa matchup produced a thrilling 4-4 draw.
Meanwhile, the Manchester FA has confirmed sponsorship for the start of an Under- 17 league later this month. Power Services Company Limited, which sponsors the FA's Division Two, will take up the tab for the Under-17. Fixtures have been drawn up with 16 teams across three zones.
Claro Clarendon Division One
Bucknor United top the seven teams who are yet to face defeat in the 36-team strong Claro-sponsored Clarendon Division One football competition.
Bucknor, who are second in Zone One, are the only ones having a perfect win record from the three games played. They have also scored eight goals and are yet to concede one.
The other unbeaten teams are Treadlight in Zone One, Portland Cottage in Zone Two, Ebony Stars, Four Paths (all of Zone Three) and the Zone Four pair of Jamalco and Mineral Heights.
The respective Zone leaders are: Summerfield (12 points from five games); Springfield (12 from 5) ; Treadlight (12 from 5); and Jamalco (13 from 5).
Results of Wednesday's matches: Mineral Heights edged Cross 1-0, so did Summerfiield over White Marl, Cock Pit and Salt River ended 0-0, likewise Turners against Bushy Park.
Globe/Covenant over-distance meet
The 12th Globe/Covenant Christian Academy Over-Distance development meet will take place today at the Mona Bowl, University of the West Indies.
The meet, which featured more than 1000 young athletes from 25 schools last year, is open to youngsters between ages seven and 14.
A similar number of participants are expected to attend today's event which runs from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Medals and awards will be presented throughout the course of the day.
The meet, which started in 2000 with nine participating schools and over 400 athletes, goes "over the distance" of standard metre measurements, and encourages fair play and family fun over "winning".
Globe Insurance Company, the event's title sponsor for the seventh consecutive year, has been involved as a founding sponsor since 2002.
Gordon Arnold, Globe's general manager said: "Globe is very happy to continue our association with this wonderful event by providing sponsorship. Over the years, it has given valuable exposure to thousands of young athletes, some of whom will, no doubt, be the future leaders of our country."
Police boot Portsmouth
The league's leading goalscorer, Olanzo Brown, produced a superb double strike (20th, 88th) to carry Spanish Town Police into the final of the LIME St Catherine FA Major League following an exciting 3-2 win over Portsmouth in the second-leg semi-final in the feature match of a double-header at the Prison Oval on Thursday. Police advanced 5-2 on aggregate. Jason Wallace (30th) scored Police's other goal, whereas Kyle McGibbon (6th) and Dwayne Dormond (72nd) netted for Portsmouth.
In the opening game, Frazer's Whip, arguably one of the best teams in St Catherine, plundered Travellers 4-0 with second-half goals from Excelsior Manning Cup star Neco Brett (59th), Dwain Gordon (70th), Kemar Beckford (80th), and Jevaune Benjamin (81st) stormed into the Division One final, 6-1 on aggregate. Frazer's Whip are the title favourites.
Eagle View, Fort in feature match
Second-place Eagle View (51 points) will tomorrow face a stern test from defending champions Fort International (46 points) at Eagle's home base at Old Braeton main road. It's the feature match of the round in the Jamaica Domino Federation/Charley's JB Overproof Rum/Supreme Ventures Portmore/St Catherine league.
In another intriguing game,
Zone one teams take centre stage
Today is an all Zone One double-header in the Power of Faith Ministries 20/20 Church Cricket League at the Lime Tree Oval in St Catherine.
Defending champions Faith Temple New Testament are in a spot of bother with four points from two games, and go into the clash with Miracle Open Bible this morning at 9:30 with the knowledge that only a win can see them progress to the next round. Miracle also have four points. In the second game at 1:30 p.m., Power & Light Ministries (four points) should get the better of pointless Gregory Park New Testament.
Early semi-final qualifiers Power of Faith International lead the Zone with maximum 12 points.
Watson Grove, Portals in semis clash
Favourites and top seed Watson Grove have a big chance to reach another final as they take on fourth-ranked East Portmore Portals in a first-leg semi-final LIME Portmore Division Two Football League in a Ferdie Neita Park double-header tomorrow .
Watson Grove took their first title in recent history when they beat Westport 2-1 in the mid-season final. In the second semi-final at the venue, Westport challenge Hellshire United at 3 p.m.
Meanwhile, in last Sunday's matches, Hellshire United snatched the third seed after they blanked Daytona 3-0, while Watson Grove wrapped up the top spot without kicking a ball as Queen's Park failed to show for their match. Meanwhile, East Portmore Portals were demoted to the fourth seed as they were beaten 2-1 by second seed Westport.
Waterford set for early lead
Waterford, second on goal difference to Wanderers after opening day last Saturday, are expected to take the early lead in the Leander Marshall-sponsored Portmore Under-13 football league as they tackle minnows Clifton in the third game of a triple-header at the Passagefort field.
The game kicks off at 4 p.m. In last Saturday's opening round, Waterford clipped East Portmore Portals 1-0 while Clifton offered little in their 7-0 defeat to Wanderers who have a bye this week. In the opening game at the venue at 1 p.m., Daytona bow into action against Garveymeade who drew 2-2 with Cumberland last week, whereas the 2:30 p.m. second game pits Cumberland against newcomers East Portmore Portals.