Ugly STETHS win puts them back among Ben Francis big boys

HOME TEAM St Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS) moved on to the quarterfinals of the ISSA/WATA Ben Francis Cup with a scrappy 1-0 victory against William Knibb Memorial High at the STETHS Sports Complex yesterday.

Frome Technical join STETHS in the quarterfinals after thrashing Tacky High 4-1, and McGrath also advanced after a 4-3 penalty victory over Port Antonio. The game had ended 0-0 after full time. The other quarterfinalists are Happy Grove, who defeated Mile Gully 2-0.

The results mean STETHS face Cornwall College, Frome are up against BB Coke, McGrath have to negotiate Manchester, and Happy Grove are up against Christiana in the quarterfinals

Abena Wallace struck the all-important goal for STETHS in the 43rd minute in a game that could have gone either way.

A scrappy contest, for the most part, saw STETHS holding a slight advantage both in terms of possession and chances created.

Early in the half, STETHS’ Nickardo Smith threatened Kemal Benjamin’s goal when his shot skimmed the bar.

STETHS came close again, but Najay Brown’s shot at goal was claimed by Benjamin.

Finally, STETHS’ slight advantage paid dividends when Wallace pounced during a melee to stab home his effort.

William Knibb started the second half better than they did in the first, looking more organised, but the STETHS defensive set-up proved impregnable.

The visitors did get their fair share of chances but failed to convert.

Still, STETHS goalkeeper, Johnoi Steadman, spent most of the game unbothered, leaving the dirty work to his defence line.

With time running out and William Knibb committing more players forward, STETHS almost extended the lead twice, but Benjamin would have something to say about it, saving beautifully on both occasions.

Speaking to The Gleaner, the assistant coach of STETHS admitted that it was a scrappy victory.

WORK NEEDED

“One-love is a victory we get. We accept it – one-nil – and that’s what we needed. This is one of our worst games since the season has started. I don’t know if it’s because we were resting this long or the players’ minds were on the daCosta Cup that we didn’t qualify for. Moving forward, we have to go back to the drawing board because we have a lot of work to do. It is a quarterfinal, so we have to go in and do some work and come better than how we did today. As for facing Cornwall College, when facing the big teams, we always turn up. We just have to do much better than we did the last time and just beat them again,” Smith said.

Dwight Jeremiah, head coach of William Knibb, said travelling is an issue for the team.

“Every time I get a chance to say it, I will say it. This is 14 games in two years, and none is in my parish. Last year, I was the higher-ranked team, and we travelled. This year, STETHS is the higher-ranked team, and they stayed at home. Things flip flopped. Apart from that, though, I think, for the most part, the guys did what they had to do. We didn’t get the result we wanted, but we came into this game behind the eight ball to start with.

“Yesterday we got bad news that one of our key players, Jaymar Skyers, was feeling a little twinge in the chest, so we took him to the doctor. The doctor said one side of his heart is enlarged, so we couldn’t play him today. I mean life is more important. Our bench players, as you can see, were 13- and 14-year-olds, who are inexperienced. But there are a lot of positives to take from this as we move forward. They did well,” Jeremiah said.

Yesterday’s Results

STETHS 1-0 William Knibb

Happy Grove 2-0 Mile Gully

Frome 4-1 Tacky

McGrath 0 (4)-0 (3) Port Antonio