STETHS show no mercy

Western Bureau:

It was their first match of the 2016 ISSA-FLOW daCosta Cup season, but you could not tell as defending champions St Elizabeth Technical went on a rampage yesterday, brushing aside Zone E rivals Black River High 10-1 at the Montego Bay Sports Complex.

Forwards Mario Wright and Jovoney Brown both scored hat-tricks.

The goals from Brown, Wright, Sabian Pusey, and substitutes Demar James and Calvin Campbell made it look rather easy in the end for the Omar Wedderburn-coached STETHS team. Jahlami Green netted the lone goal for Black River.

The champions began slowly, ceding the midfield to robust Black River attacking players, and when they did attack, they were stymied in their efforts by the brilliance of Davian Gayle in goal for Black River.

BRILLIANT SAVES

Gayle was superb in the early stages, making several brilliant saves to deny Wright and Brown, but once the STETHS unit settled, it was clear they were, indeed, on a mission.

First, Wright had his close-range effort on goal saved by Gayle, and when it was Brown's turn, he had Gayle again in his way.

The deadlock was broken in the most innocuous fashion in the 33rd minute. A left-sided corner kick by Pusey flew over the heads of the defenders inside the box and went past Gayle. Brown then fired in the first of his goal hat-trick in the 43rd for a 2-0 lead and added his second in the 58th, and third in the 73rd.

Wright, one of last year's standout players for STETHS, was the first to his hat-trick, however, hitting the target in the 51st, 54th and 67th minutes.

"While I am happy for the points, we failed to deliver in some areas as we wanted to keep possession more," STETHS coach Omar Wedderburn said.

"It was, however, a win that we can build on, and the players are delighted to get this one out the way," he added.