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Digicel Nationwide Schools Football Competition… Covent Garden take East Bank title with 3-1 win against Friendship
East Bank Champions Covent Garden’s Secondary with Digicel rep Tollin Thompson (left) and Coach Kevin Padmore.
By Sean Devers
In overcast conditions at the Timehri Red ground, a second half brace and a first half goal by Anthony Antionio spurred Covent Garden Secondary to a 3-1 win over Friendship Secondary in the East Bank final of the Digicel Nationwide Schools Football competition yesterday.
There was bound to be a new champion since defending champions IPE opted not to participate in the 2015 competition. The eventual Zone Champions had to wait until the last minute of the first half to take the lead when Antionio netted in the 45th minute.
Covent Garden’s Mario Campbell had the first shot on goal in the 5th minute when he tried to make the most of a loose ball in front of the goal mouth but Friendship’s custodian Andrew Ramsay, who had a good game between the uprights, made a neat save.
Goal scorers, Angel Straker (left) and Anthony Antionio
The action ebbed and flowed throughout the first stanza and although Covent Garden had the slightly higher percentage of possession, no one team dominated the opening half. Both teams struggled to finish off their raids on goal as Covent Garden goalkeeper Jamuel Yearwood also had good day at the office, making an acrobatic save when Isaiah Sam fired from outside the box and the ball was deflected onto the cross bar.
The second half began with Friendship’s captain, defender Omali Henry who manned a sound back line, switched to the role of forward as his team tried desperately to find the equalizer which eventually came in the 65th minute when a defender got his hands in the way of the ball inside the box; Napthali Joseph hammering the ball in from penalty spot.
Friendship pinned their hopes on the nibble and skillful little Akeem Tafar who was full of speed and flamboyance in the midfield. He regularly dribbled past bemused Covent Garden players but his clinically set-up passes were wasted since nobody offered any support and the strikers were easily dispossessed.
In the 78th minute, Straker pounced on the ball and netted Covent Garden’s second goal which compounded Friendship’s misery when he collected the ball from an ill directed goal kick and struck the ball past Ramsay, who led an on-field protest since at least two Covent Garden players were clearly in an off-side position.
However, the young players were quickly reminded an off side call cannot be made for a goal kick and score remained 3-1 when the final whistle was blown. Digicel’s Representative Tollin Thompson was on hand to present team jerseys to the winning team.
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