Zone A thrown wide open

Adrian Frater, News Editor

WESTERN BUREAU:

On an afternoon when rains affected several games, Zone A of the 2011 ISSA/Gatorade/Digicel daCosta Cup was thrown wide open yesterday as joint second-place teams Cornwall College and Spot Valley both scored wins, while group leaders St James High were held to a draw.

On account of yesterday's results, the group's inter-zone places and Ben Francis Cup KO slot will not be decided until Wednesday when Cornwall College and Irwin meet in a rescheduled game. Currently, St James High, which have completed their fixture, lead with 24 points, while Cornwall and Spot Valley are tied on 23 each.

However, while Cornwall College, Spot Valley and St James High will have to wait until Wednesday to know whether or not they will advance, teams such as Petersfield, Frome Technical and Knox all sealed their places in the inter-zone round.

In Zone E, Grange Hill copped the group's Ben Francis slot after knocking Mannings (20) out of contention with their 1-0 win, which moved them up to 24 points. Petersfield took the group's second place ahead of Mannings as their 7-0 win against Little London took them to 23 points.

Joining the winners

In Zone G, Knox joined group winners Manchester High as the inter-zone qualifiers after their 2-0 win against Bellefield took them to 22 points and out of the reach of Spaldings, which entered yesterday's round of matches with an outside chance of advancing.

In Zone C, where Marcus Garvey and Cedric Titus are assured of the inter-zone slots, Marcus Garvey took over leadership of the group with their 5-1 win against Albert Town, which lifted them to 21 points. Cedric Titus, whose game against Brown's Town was rained out, remain on 20 points, but are expected to beat Brown's Town in their replay and win the group.

On account of the rains, which affected games involving Glenmuir, Lennon and Clarendon College, the Ben Francis qualifiers from the groups involving those teams will not be known until those matches have been replayed.

In their group, where Denbigh High have completed their fixture with 30 points, the Glenmuir team, which is already assured of their inter-zone place, just need to keep their unbeaten record in their two outstanding games, to win the group.

In Zone H, where only a point separate Clarendon College (29) and Lennon (28), their rescheduled game will decide which competes in the Ben Francis KO.