Wright goal puts Wolmer's in semis

Robert Bailey, Sunday Gleaner Writer

Former champions Wolmer's Boys' recorded a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Hydel High to secure their spot in the semi-finals of the Inter-Secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA)/Gatorade/Digicel Manning Cup schoolboy football competition at the Spanish Town Prison Oval in St Catherine yesterday.

National Under-17 representative, Jason Wright, scored the all-important goal for Wolmer's in the 26th minute.

The boys from Heroes Circle finished atop their group with maximum nine points, relegating Ascot to second at six. They are followed by José Marti, three, and Hydel, which failed to gain a point in the second round.

Ludlow Bernard, coach of the Wolmer's team, which last made it into the semi-finals in 2002, said he was very happy with their effort.

"It is always good to be in the semi-finals or the top four of any competition, but my mandate is to take this team to the finals and bring home the trophy for the Heroes Circle-based school," said Bernard.

"A lot of these players are not accustomed to winning and so I really want to start the trend where that is concerned," he said.

Wolmer's will now face archrivals St George's College in the semi-finals.

Spirited game

"The Hydel team, I thought, played a spirited game today. But it is very clear that we need to do some homework this week in planning for the semi-finals, which is expected to be a thrilling encounter," Bernard said.

In the opening game of the double-header, Ascot recorded a 2-0 victory over José Marti. Ricardo Jackson (70th) and an own-goal by a José Marti defender (72nd) accounted for Ascot's goals.

In the feature match, Hydel dominated the early proceedings, but squandered a number of clear-cut chances, as Damion Roberts and Hakeem Spencer were guilty of missing easy chances in the opening 10 minutes.

However, Wolmer's regained their composure as the match went on and they outplayed their opponents with their swift one-two passing and clever off-the-ball movements, which led to Wright being awarded a free kick 20-yards from goal after he was fouled by a Hydel defender.

The diminutive Wright then curled a powerful shot around Hydel's wall past goalkeeper Nicholas Clarke.

Both teams failed to convert a number of easy chances in the second half as poor finishing from their strikers let them down.

"It was tough luck for us because this is another one-nil defeat for us," said Lebert Halliman, coach of Hydel. "I think we outplayed every team in this round, but we just weren't scoring and, as you know, it's goals that win matches."