Ben Francis is an all-Clarendon affair

Western Bureau:

JUST AS it is in the daCosta Cup, an all-Clarendon Inter-Secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA) Ben Francis Knockout Cup final looms after defending champions Edwin Allen High School dispatched former champions Rusea’s High School and Glenmuir High School handled their business in a semi-final double-header at the STETHS Sports Complex yesterday.

Glenmuir, playing in the early game, got by York Castle High School 2-0. David Reid netted a brace in the 13th and 62nd minutes of play.

In the late game, Edwin Allen blanked Rusea’s 3-0.

They started in commanding fashion, Tajae Thomas giving them the lead in the second minute, Rusea’s goalkeeper, Chadwyck Campbell, making it too easy to be beaten at his near post.

The defending champions doubled the lead in the 16th minute when Clayton Peck decided to test goalkeeper Campbell once more from a free kick. Campbell failed the test.

Rusea’s got into the game around the half-hour mark and tried to pull back the lead, but the Clarendon-based Edwin Allen were defensively solid.

Three minutes after the interval, Alwayen Bryan extended Edwin Allen’s lead, flicking the ball around his defensive marker before shooting across the goalkeeper to finish in the bottom right corner.

If goalkeeper Campbell thought his day could not get any worse after conceding three goals, two of which beat him at the near post, he would have been wrong.

In the third minute of stoppage time, Campbell saw red for handling the ball outside the box.

Tafari Burton, coach of Edwin Allen, commended his boys for their execution.

“The boys executed the game plan exactly how we wanted. We wanted to start with high intensity and got the early goal to set the pace,” Burton said.

“I am proud of the execution because, for 75 per cent of them, this is their first time playing in this competition. The way they have developed into serial winners over the course of the season is commendable,” he added.

Dwayne Ambusley, coach of Rusea’s, believes his players, who are inexperienced at this level, were overwhelmed by the occasion.

“The performance today was not a good one. We could have done better in some critical areas but such is the game. The players are not used to being at this level. We didn’t come out of the (first round) zone last year. We just have to build on this for years to come,” Ambusley said.