Lennon-XLCR showdown again

André Lowe, Senior Staff Reporter

It will be a repeat matchup of last year's final, as defending champions Lennon High and Excelsior (XLCR) will contest tomorrow's finale of the Inter-Secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA)/Locker Room Sports girls' football competition, after contrasting semi-final wins at the Spanish Town Prison Oval yesterday.

In a rain-affected curtain-raiser, Lennon brushed aside Black River 5-0 in an embarrassingly one-sided affair, while Excelsior benefited from some questionable officiating and poor finishing from their opponents, to scrape a 2-1 win over a spirited Old Harbour outfit in the feature.

A heavy downpour and a 15-minute break could not deter the Merron Gordon-coached Lennon outfit from remaining on course for a fourth successive title, after they were powered by a hat-trick from national representative Shanese Bowen and a double from the impressive Nugene Nugent.

Bowen struck in the 13th, 16th and 57th minutes, while Nugent, who also missed a penalty late on, made her mark in the 19th and 41st minutes.

Gordon expressed delight with his team's return to the final.

"When we started the season we wanted to get to the finals and defend our title, we have done well, conceding three goals and scoring over 100," said Gordon, following his team's commanding win.

"Whoever comes in the final, we are prepared to work hard," he added.

The feature was certainly more competitive and controversial.

Excelsior were the more assertive of the two during the early exchanges, dominating possession and making all the early inroads.

It was, however, the less-fancied Old Harbour that created the first opening with Shanae Newton shooting wide from inside the box, after a mix-up by the Excelsior defence.

They were made to rue that miss as only minutes later, Excelsior's Shanel Spence popped up at the back post to slot home a miscued shot from Nicole Broderick, in the 12th minute.

controversial goal

The goal wasn't without controversy though, as Broderick seemed to have been in an offside position when she first picked up the ball, just inside the Old Harbour half.

Old Harbour thought they had equalised a minute later when Jodeen Whyte, who had the beating of her markers all afternoon, outsprinted three defenders and slotted beyond the onrushing goalkeeper.

The goal was, however, waved off for offside.

Excelsior thought they had put the Old Harbour challenge to bed 20 minutes after the restart, when Broderick stepped up to slot home a penalty in the 65th minute, following a poor challenge by Newton.

fierce left-footer

The latter assaulted the left upright with a fierce left-footer from the edge of the box only minutes later, but made amends in the 70th minute, when her deep, floated cross from the right touchline crept under the bar and scored, to send her team back into contention. It was the first time that Excelsior's net had been breached all season.

Excelsior's coach, Xavier Gilbert, while a bit concerned about his team's poor finishing and inability to kill off the tie, was happy that they will get another shot at Lennon.

"It was a gutsy performance. it was not one of our best performances but, nevertheless, I'm pleased to be in the final and, hopefully, we can take it one step further."

The final will be contested at the same venue at 3 p.m. and will be preceded by the third-place play-off at 1 p.m.