Digicel Schools Football Championships...

Digicel Schools Football Championships…

Jul 05, 2016 Sports

Ann’s Grove to face Buxton Youth Developers in Zone Final

A new Zone champion in the East Coast leg of the Digicel National Schools Football Championships would be crowned next week when Ann’s Grove Secondary face off with Buxton Youth Developers in the Zone final.
Ann’s Grove, disqualified last year, have endeavored not to make any detrimental administrative blunders this year and dug deep to sink last year’s winners of the Zone, Annandale Secondary which they beat on sudden death kicks from the penalty mark at the BV ground in fading light last evening.
Buxton Youth Developers made their passage to this stage by virtue of a 1-0 win over Buxton Secondary, Tyreeh Cummings netting the winner in the 28th minute.
The match of the day was the main attraction between Annandale and Ann’s Grove, the latter taking the lead on 12 minutes when Karlos Cole hammered his shot past Annandale’s goalkeeper, Kenduce Cooper.
Ann’s Grove looked the hungrier of the two sides in the early exchanges as the former zone champions took quite some time to get into their stride. Conditions were soggy but it did not deter either side from showcasing their skills.
The 80 minute clash saw Annandale coming to life towards the end of the first half when they fired in back to back goals in a two minute burst. Troni Semple was the player who took on Ann’s Grove by blasting all their goals but his efforts came to naught in the end.
Semple netted in the 37th and 39th minute to hand Annandale the lead, lifting their confidence in the process at the half way mark. Annandale was a much more aggressive unit in the second half as they took the fight to Ann’s Grove.
But it was Ann’s Grove who would strike first again in the half when Shemar McPherson tucked in the equalizer in the 48th minute.
Not to be outdone and determined to keep ahead of proceedings, Annandale retook the lead two minutes later (50th) thanks to Semple who completed his hat-trick.
Annandale for some reason felt that they had it covered and relaxed for a few minutes rather than keep on the aggressive path which brought them results.
It was Ann’s Grove which turned up the heat and were duly rewarded in the 66th minute with a cracking goal from Kevin Williams that drew them level once again.
The remaining minutes failed to produce anymore goals which required kicks from the penalty mark to decide the winner.
Kicks also produced a ding dong exchange as both sides missed three times whilst scoring twice in the first five taken.
It was now down to sudden kicks, while Annandale floored theirs, Ann’s Grove scored to win a grueling encounter to set up a clash with Buxton Youth Developers with the Zone Champions title at stake.