Spanish Town High avenged the 1-0 loss to Kingston College earlier in the season when they clipped the North Street boys 1-0 in the reverse fixture, at the Jonathan Grant High School on Saturday to book a spot in this season’s Walker Cup competition.
Spanish Town High avenged the 1-0 loss to Kingston College earlier in the season when they clipped the North Street boys 1-0 in the reverse fixture, at the Jonathan Grant High School on Saturday to book a spot in this season’s Walker Cup competition.
Both teams entered the game level on points but KC had the superior goal difference which meant a draw would see them top the zone.
Knowing that a win would be vital, Spanish Town started the game the faster of the two and caught KC cold in the fourth minute of play. Right full back, Kyle Smith went inside to cover for a teammate leaving his marker, Daniel Francis free on the edge of the area. Francis collected a loose ball on the edge of the box, controlled and blasted a low, left foot drive into the far corner of the net to give his team the lead.
The early goal woke up KC, who created a number of chances as they pursued the equalizer. The closest they came in the first half was when Romar Beckford flashed a header just wide from a corner kick, this after Kashane Jones had blasted an effort just over the top a few minutes earlier.
A battle raged in the middle of the park between Nathaniel Leslie and Stephan Nelson of Spanish Town and Allan Morgan, Lincoln Henry and Chevaun Blake of KC, as both teams fought for control of the game as the clocked ticked towards half time.
Lloyd Duhaney of Spanish Town had a glorious opportunity in the 32nd minute when the ball fell kindly to him in the box after a corner kick, but he delayed on too long on the ball which was cleared away by the KC defense.
KC had two free kicks on the stroke of half time but failed to do anything meaning full with either of them as the home team clung to their slender lead.
The second half was virtually one way traffic as the Spanish Town team, that was playing their third game in six days came out simply to protect their lead. Kingston College pressed their opponents for the entire second half in search of the equalizer but was wasteful in front of goal.
Lincoln Henry was particularly culpable and will have nightmares for weeks as he missed at least three clear chances to pull his team level, each time shooting off target when played in by his teammates.
Oh how KC would have wished one of those chances would have fallen to captain Allan Morgan who was switched from midfield to centre forward by coach Donovan Hayles as they desperately sought the equalizer.
The pressure from KC was sustained and in the final minutes of the game they had four consecutive corners, the third of which resulted in a shot on target that was cleared off the line by a Spanish Town defender.
It was certainly not to be KC’s day and the final whistle moments later saw both sets of players collapse in a heap. The Spanish Town players from being totally exhausted and the KC players from the agony of knowing that they had missed out on the Walker Cup.
Both teams however, will advance to the next round of the Manning Cup competition. The Manning Cup will take a break as the Walker Cup gets underway this Friday.
The Walker Cup pairings will be announced shortly.
Photo: Nathaniel Leslie of Spanish Town is tackled by Chevaun Blake of KC, Allan Morgan looks on.
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