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Trio locked on points as NPL play-offs heat up
LIVINGSTON SCOTT & PAUL REID
Thursday, May 31, 2007
St George's Ricardo Taylor (airborne) makes a high tackle against Sporting Central's Hughan Gray during their NPL play-off match at Brancourt in Clarendon yesterday. Sporting Central won 2-0. (Photo: Bryan Cummings)
With two matches remaining, the National Premier League (NPL) play-off series has been thrown wide open following Sporting Central Academy's 2-0 win over nine-man St George's United at Brancourt in Clarendon yesterday.
In the day's other game, Granville FC and Police Nationals played to a 1-1 draw at Catherine Hall.
Oneke Forde in the 34th and Jevaughn Watson in the 88th got the goals for the winners. Ricardo Taylor of St George's was ejected in the 38th and Barrington James in the 55th for a second yellow card.
Yesterday's results left three teams locked on seven points and paved the way for even cellar-dwellars Police to have an outside chance, after earning their first point of the campaign.
Granville lead the tables with a +3 goal-difference, followed by Sporting with a +2 and St George's with a +1. Police have a -5 goal-difference.
At Brancourt, the home team started brightly, but it was the visitors who had the first chance when the competition's leading goal-scorer Damion Harwood's low shot from 10 yards was saved by goalkeeper Waldo Ricketts.
Sporting exhibited slick passing going forward, but their final touches were left wanting. St George's, meantime, looked woefully out of sorts.
Sporting took the lead just after the half-hour when Forde broke away and tucked the ball under Adrian Williams in goal.
Four minutes later, the visitors' problems worsened when defender Taylor - the brother of Harbour View and national defender Jermaine Taylor - was shown the red card for a malicious tackle on Hughan Gray.
Ten minutes after the restart, St George's lost another player when James was shown two yellow cards three minutes apart.
But despite the two man disadvantage, Harwood had two great opportunities to equalise for St George's thereafter, but on both occasions he was woefully off target.
The hosts came into their own and Gray, Forde, Shawn Francis, Karl Wiggan and Cornell Learmond - who hit the crossbar - came close to adding to their tally.
Five minutes from the end, Harwood latched onto a pass over the Sporting defence and rounded goalkeeper Ricketts. However, instead of shooting at goal, he opted to control and pass to Andre Lawson inside the area and the danger was cleared by the defence.
The home team got their assurance goal two minutes from time when midfield general Jevaughn Watson capped a slendid performance by scoring from the dge of the area after a give-and-go with Dushane Ashman.
The result greatly pleased Sporting's coach Kevin Williams: "It's a win in the right direction.... We lost the last game and these competitions are very tight, but we are grateful because head-to-head we're leading them," he said.
St George's coach Donovan Duckie, obviously displeased with the officiating, had no comment.
At Catherne Hall, Western Confederation champions Granville missed a great chance of taking sole leadership of the qualifying series after giving up a late goal against Police Nationals and had to settle for a draw.
Heavy mid-afternoon showers earlier forced officials to delay the start of the match by over 30 minutes, and it was still raining when it got under way just after 4:00 pm amid sporadic flashes of lightning.
Needing a win to stay in contention for a place in the NPL, Police took the game to Granville and created a number of opportunities.
But it was Granville who took the lead in the 19th minute when Jermaine Anderson scored from a quickly-taken free kick. Jason Rose passed to Anderson, who powered from 20 yards into the back of the net.
A defensive lapse three minutes to time gave Police an opening and Sheldon Campbell capitalised. A Police National players headed a corner onto the crossbar and the ball fell in the area. Campbell reacted first and kicked the ball into the goal.
Trio locked on points as NPL play-offs heat up
LIVINGSTON SCOTT & PAUL REID
Thursday, May 31, 2007
St George's Ricardo Taylor (airborne) makes a high tackle against Sporting Central's Hughan Gray during their NPL play-off match at Brancourt in Clarendon yesterday. Sporting Central won 2-0. (Photo: Bryan Cummings)With two matches remaining, the National Premier League (NPL) play-off series has been thrown wide open following Sporting Central Academy's 2-0 win over nine-man St George's United at Brancourt in Clarendon yesterday.
In the day's other game, Granville FC and Police Nationals played to a 1-1 draw at Catherine Hall.
Oneke Forde in the 34th and Jevaughn Watson in the 88th got the goals for the winners. Ricardo Taylor of St George's was ejected in the 38th and Barrington James in the 55th for a second yellow card.
Yesterday's results left three teams locked on seven points and paved the way for even cellar-dwellars Police to have an outside chance, after earning their first point of the campaign.
Granville lead the tables with a +3 goal-difference, followed by Sporting with a +2 and St George's with a +1. Police have a -5 goal-difference.
At Brancourt, the home team started brightly, but it was the visitors who had the first chance when the competition's leading goal-scorer Damion Harwood's low shot from 10 yards was saved by goalkeeper Waldo Ricketts.
Sporting exhibited slick passing going forward, but their final touches were left wanting. St George's, meantime, looked woefully out of sorts.
Sporting took the lead just after the half-hour when Forde broke away and tucked the ball under Adrian Williams in goal.
Four minutes later, the visitors' problems worsened when defender Taylor - the brother of Harbour View and national defender Jermaine Taylor - was shown the red card for a malicious tackle on Hughan Gray.
Ten minutes after the restart, St George's lost another player when James was shown two yellow cards three minutes apart.
But despite the two man disadvantage, Harwood had two great opportunities to equalise for St George's thereafter, but on both occasions he was woefully off target.
The hosts came into their own and Gray, Forde, Shawn Francis, Karl Wiggan and Cornell Learmond - who hit the crossbar - came close to adding to their tally.
Five minutes from the end, Harwood latched onto a pass over the Sporting defence and rounded goalkeeper Ricketts. However, instead of shooting at goal, he opted to control and pass to Andre Lawson inside the area and the danger was cleared by the defence.
The home team got their assurance goal two minutes from time when midfield general Jevaughn Watson capped a slendid performance by scoring from the dge of the area after a give-and-go with Dushane Ashman.
The result greatly pleased Sporting's coach Kevin Williams: "It's a win in the right direction.... We lost the last game and these competitions are very tight, but we are grateful because head-to-head we're leading them," he said.
St George's coach Donovan Duckie, obviously displeased with the officiating, had no comment.
At Catherne Hall, Western Confederation champions Granville missed a great chance of taking sole leadership of the qualifying series after giving up a late goal against Police Nationals and had to settle for a draw.
Heavy mid-afternoon showers earlier forced officials to delay the start of the match by over 30 minutes, and it was still raining when it got under way just after 4:00 pm amid sporadic flashes of lightning.
Needing a win to stay in contention for a place in the NPL, Police took the game to Granville and created a number of opportunities.
But it was Granville who took the lead in the 19th minute when Jermaine Anderson scored from a quickly-taken free kick. Jason Rose passed to Anderson, who powered from 20 yards into the back of the net.
A defensive lapse three minutes to time gave Police an opening and Sheldon Campbell capitalised. A Police National players headed a corner onto the crossbar and the ball fell in the area. Campbell reacted first and kicked the ball into the goal.