Glenmuir, STETHS Rusea's victorious

Adrian Frater, News Editor

WESTERN BUREAU:

Reigning champions Rusea's High, Ben Francis Cup KO champions St Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS) and the enterprising Glenmuir High all emerged victorious yesterday as action started in the quarter-final round of the 2011-12 ISSA/Gatorade/Digicel daCosta Cup schoolboy football competition with three games.

In their Group Two game against the sprightly Grange Hill, Rusea's had to battle hard before star striker Brian 'Rambo' Brown got the game's lone goal and his 32nd of the season, giving his team a 1-0 win.

However, it was not all joy for the 'Russians' as their influential skipper and midfield stalwart, Nicodie Haughton, was red-carded late in the game.

Over in the big Group One feature game in Santa Cruz, the high-riding STETHS, who are gunning for the rural double, blanked Frome Technical 2-0 behind goals from Kevon Farquharson and Akeemo Palmer. The result was most pleasing for coach Andrew Edwards, who said his players executed well.

"We wanted to start this game strongly because we have been coming from behind in recent games and we wanted to change that," said Edwards.

"We got the start we wanted when Farquharson scored a beautiful free kick in the third minute and we basically dominated the game after that, which was our intention," added Edwards.

Hero for Glenmuir

In the second of the Group One games, the 'silent assassin', the Patrick 'Jackie' Walters-coached Glenmuir, proved much too strong for Cedric Titus, cutting them down 4-1 at the Juici Patties Complex in Clarendon. Striker Paul Wilson was the hero for Glenmuir, netting a hat-trick. The prolific Noel Johnson got the other goal.

"We got two early goals and then complacency stepped in and we wasted some chances we should have taken," said Walters, whose team remains unbeaten in the daCosta Cup.

He added: "Our opponents benefited from a controversial penalty, but that is OK because we achieved our objective, which was to win the game."

At the Frome Sports Ground, champions Rusea's were made to battle hard by the Grange Hill team, which showed very little respect for their reputation and impressive unbeaten record in open play this season.

Towards the end, the game became somewhat contentious as after losing skipper Haughton to what many deemed a controversial red card, Rusea's also had both coaches, Emerson 'Diggy' Henry and Anthony 'Follies' Williams, ejected from the team bench as they became increasingly vociferous in challenging the quality of the officiating.

"I don't even want to speak about the officiating, because the match was on television for all Jamaica to see," said an obviously angry Williams. "We came here with the intention of taking all three points and we got the job done, so all credit to the boys for a job well done."

After taking control early in the second half, Rusea's made a master stroke when Jovan James was brought on to replace Anthony Walker. It was James' peach of a pass which created the opening for Brown, who controlled elegantly, strolled by the last defender and fired past the goalkeeper, making the final score 1-0.

The fourth of the first-round quarter-final games, a Group Two game between Paul Bogle High and Petersfield will be played at York Oval in St Thomas tomorrow, starting at 3 p.m.