Granville take charge in Trelawny

Adrian Frater, News Editor

WESTERN BUREAU:

Despite suffering a surprise 3-1 loss to Invaders FC last weekend, beaten mid-season finalist Granville FC are still the sole leaders, as second-round action continues in earnest in the 12-team 2010-11 National Rums of Jamaica Trelawny Major Football League.

In their game against third-place Invaders, the Granville team fell prey to goals by Omar Williams (two) and Roxroy Hardy, who combined to give Invaders their fifth win of the season. Lionel Johnson got Granville's consolation goal.

With Invaders having the better of the early exchange, they took the lead in the sixth minute when Williams breached the Granville defence to make the score 1-0. Four minutes later, Hardy doubled Invaders' lead, making the score 2-0.

Granville came to life in the 26th minute and got on the scoresheet courtesy of Johnson, who capitalised on an error in the Invaders defence and made them pay, firing home to make the half-time score 2-1.

Down into early second-half action, Williams restored Invaders' two-goal advantage when he got his second goal of the game in the 65th minute, which made the final score 3-1.

Despite the setback against Invaders, the Granville team, whose overall record read eight wins, one draw and four defeats from 13 games, lead the competition standings with 25 points, three more than second-place Kinloss FC, who had beaten them 1-0 for the mid-season crown.

In their game on the weekend, Kinloss were held to a 1-1 draw by mid-table Clark's Town, who left them off the pace on 22 points. In fact, in what was a closely contested game, Clark's Town took a first-minute lead through Lupton Haughton, and Girvet Dixon found the equaliser for Kinloss in the 30th minute.

points standings

In other games played last weekend, struggling Spicy Hill tagged fellow strugglers Classic United 3-0, Duanvale clipped Palmento United 2-1, Holland FC and Flames drew 2-2, while Preston FC clipped Jackson Town 2-1.

The full points standings going into this weekend read as follows: Granville FC 25, Kinloss FC 22, Invaders 21, Palmento 18, Holland 18, Flames 17, Duanvale 17, Preston 16, Clark's Town 15, Spicy Hill 14, Jackson Town 14 and Classic United 7.

In the area of goalscoring, a total of 189 have been netted to date. Invaders FC and Preston FC are jointly the most prolific teams, both scoring 21 goals. Bottom-place Classic United have the worst defensive record, giving up 25 goals.