Red-hot Jericho Rangers on a roll

Adrian Frater, News Editor

WESTERN BUREAU:

Jericho Rangers' impressive unbeaten run in the second round of the 2010-11 Captain's Bakery Hanover Major Football League was extended to four games on Sunday, following a hard-fought 2-1 win against Logwood FC at the Elgin Town Community Centre in Hanover.

In a game where all three goals were scored in the first half, the red-hot Jericho Rangers got their goals from the boot of the prolific Darrel Jowrey. Balvin Mulgrave got the consolation goal for Logwood who were completely outplayed in the opening 15 minutes.

By virtue of their win, which followed their 3-1 success against fancied Galaxy FC in their previous outing, Jericho Rangers now have maximum 12 points from their four second-round games, and are now being viewed as one of the fancied teams to lift the Captain's Bakery & Grill Trophy and $100,000, the largest paycheck in the history of Hanover's football.

After dominating the opening minutes of Sunday's game and coming close on a few occasions, slick-moving Jericho Rangers took the lead in the 11th minute when Jowrey pounced on a cross before the goal, turned sweetly and drilled a low shot wide of the goalkeeper.

With Logwood under sustained pressure and struggling to keep their opponents at bay, Jericho Rangers doubled their lead in the 17th minute. Jowrey spotted the goalkeeper off his line and lobbed the ball perfectly over his head and into the back of the net.

Costly error

With Jericho Rangers slowing down and looking somewhat relaxed, Logwood got on the scoresheet in the 26th minute when Mulgrave capitalised on a blatant error before the Jericho Rangers and fired a torrid shot out of the goalkeeper's reach, making the half-time score 2-1.

The second half was more evenly balanced, with both teams taking turns in attack. Despite a few good chances, the teams failed in their bid to add to their first-half tally.

For Jowrey, his double strike brought his tally to four goals in his last three games. In their 3-1 win against Superstars on April 30, he scored the team's final goal after his strike partner, Imran Brown, had scored twice. Four days later, against Galaxy, Jowrey again scored the final goal, after Brown had scored twice from the penalty spot in another 3-1 win.

Sunday's loss came on the heels of another defeat for Logwood against inconsistent Sandy Bay. Omari Black and Melvin Donald were the players on target in Sandy Bay's win.