Frome clip St James

Adrian Frater, News Editor

WESTERN BUREAU:

Frome Technical High School joined the list of first-round inter-zone winners in the 2011-12 Inter-Secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA)/Gatorade/ Digicel daCosta Cup schoolboy football competition yesterday afternoon, when they clipped St James High 1-0 in their rescheduled Group One clash at Frome Sports Complex in Westmoreland.

In a game played on a soggy surface, which made accurate passing of the ball very difficult, the Davion Ferguson-coached Frome Technical - the more composed of the teams - snatched victory, courtesy of an early first-half strike by Shenardo Cooper.

The win makes Frome Technical joint leaders of the four-team group with Cedric Titus, who started their campaign on Wednesday with a 1-0 victory against St Mary High.

"We scored early and then allowed St James High back into the game," said Ferguson. "We got several chances to widen our lead but failed to take them. In the end, we were fortunate because they got a penalty and missed."

blundered

For St James High, who won the corresponding fixture 2-1 last year, it was an afternoon of total misery as after losing first-choice goalkeeper Oakley Jackson to a first-half red card, they got a penalty in the dying moments of the game, but Jason Malcolm failed to convert.

"It was just not our day today," said St James' coach Gregory Palmer. "The soggy conditions did not suit our style of play and then, to compound the issue, our goalkeeper got a red card, and then we further blundered by missing a penalty."

The game's lone goal - a beauty - came via an expertly taken free kick by Cooper, which left both the St James defenders and goalkeeper absolutely stunned, as the ball crashed into the goal.

The inter-zone round, which is being contested by 24 teams divided into six zones of four teams, will yield eight qualifiers for the competition's quarter-finals, which will feature the six group winners and the two best second-place finishers.