KC’s Pearson scores on debut for Cavalier

Kingston College (KC) schoolboy Christopher Pearson made a dream start to life in the Jamaica Premier League (JPL) competition with an 89th-minute goal to help Cavalier to a 2-0 win over Molynes United at Sabina Park yesterday.

Kyle Ming scored the opening goal for Cavalier in the 45th minute before Pearson, who helped KC to win last year’s Manning Cup and Olivier Shield titles, scored his debut goal for Cavalier from the penalty spot. Cavalier earned the penalty after Kenroy Howell was brought down in the 18-yard box by Molynes United’s Dijon Grant.

The 18-year-old Pearson, who netted nine goals for KC in all competitions last season, said he was delighted with his performance.

“I just went out there and adapted quickly and it resulted in a goal for me,” said Pearson.

“The goal will give me a lot of confidence going forward because the coaches had the faith in me to take the penalty and score it, so it is really a good feeling,” he said. The victory was Cavalier’s fifth of the season from nine matches. They are now in fifth place on 15 points.

Rudolph Speid, sporting director of defending JPL champions Cavalier, said he was happy for the victory but felt they should have scored a lot more goals.

“We should have done better today because we missed a lot of goals,” Speid said.

Cavalier dominated the early proceedings as they outplayed Molynes United in all departments.

They were finally rewarded on the stroke of half-time when Ming rose above three Molynes United defenders to head home a well-measured right-sided free kick from Kimani Gibbons.

Molynes United, who are 11th in the standings on four points from nine matches, failed to match the pace of the Cavalier team in the second half.

In fact, Cavalier squandered a number of clear-cut chances in the second half and as such had to wait until the 89th minute when Pearson scored from the penalty spot to wrap up the victory.

Despite the defeat, Garnett Lawrence, coach of Molynes United, said he was pleased with his team’s efforts.

“It was an excellent game from us because you saw the transition and you saw the kids coming in and playing well,” said Lawrence.

“We have a few more to come in and so I am really proud of their efforts, so we are hoping that they can gel so that we can try and make a run for it pretty soon,” he said.

In the second match of the double-header, another JPL debutant, Peter McGregor, scored a double to lead Dunbeholden to an exciting 3-2 victory over Portmore United. McGregor netted his goals in the 16th and 42nd minutes. Atapharoy Bygrave scored Dunbeholden’s third goal in the 79th minute. Emelio Rousseau in the 30th and Aeron Elliot in the 48th minute were the scorers for Portmore.