Glenmuir first into final four, Champions Cup

GLENMUIR HIGH School became the first team through to the final four of the ISSA/WATA daCosta Cup football competition yesterday, courtesy of a commanding 4-1 win over McGrath High School at their Glenmuir home ground.

The win ensured the Clarendon team stayed on top of Group A, ahead of McGrath and St Elizabeth Technical High School, who are on one point each, and Frome Technical, who are yet to get off the mark.

The win also ensured that Glenmuir booked their spot in the Champions Cup which sees the top four daCosta teams pitting themselves against the top four Manning Cup teams.

For the second time in this quarterfinal round, Glenmuir, playing through heavy underfoot conditions, had to come from behind.

Against Frome on Saturday, Genmuir had to overcome a 3-1 half-time deficit and yesterday, McGrath took the lead in the 19th minute when striker Dontae Anderson scored from a rebound coughed up by goalkeeper Tajay Afflick.

Aflick failed to hold an Isaac Mason free kick cleanly, giving Anderson a glorious opportunity.

But again, like on Saturday, Glenmuir managed the muddy conditions better than their opponents and made some inroads through the skilful Tajaun Cummings on the right flank, supported by Dusting Cohen, Orel Miller and Orane Watson.

Wayward shooting

Drawing level under those conditions seemed more like when and not if with Miller’s 29th-minute header accentuating the point.

Miller was at it again with Watson joining in before the halftime break.

Down by two goals, McGrath found some rhythm in the second half with Anderson and Devore Davis trying hard to get their team back into the game.

Those efforts bore the fruits of opportunity but wayward shooting left the game out of the visitors’ reach.

Glenmuir sealed the win in the 89th minute through a penalty, which Watson duly converted to notch his 29th goal this season.

Watson’s spot was all the more remarkable after he had to wait until a protest from an aggrieved McGrath coaching staff waned before he was allowed to take the penalty.

Peart was pleased with the result.

“I thought we started the game a bit too flat. McGrath were winning the second ball too often in the first 20 minutes and they capitalised on that by scoring. I thought once we managed to take control of the game, we could do what we wanted to do and that was important,” said Peart.

“A win is a win and we did what we had to do in the second half as we did not want them to score the fifth goal of the match and put us in a similar position like last Saturday against Frome,” Peart added.

“This result is a good step going forward and we still have a game to go which will have some implications on the group and we will not be taking it lightly as we want to uphold the integrity of the competition,” said Peart.

McGrath coach, Jermaine Thomas, had mixed feelings about the loss.

“It was a tough one. We knew the circumstances coming to the match as it was going to be a tough one for the lads. They played well despite the tough conditions but I thought the officiating was really poor. It could have been different if it was not for this,” said Thomas.

Despite the loss, Thomas is still confident of advancing with one game to go.

“We are a fighting team and we will not go down without a fight. We will just have to get back and reorganise as coming off away games in St Elizabeth and May Pen we will be back on familiar territory in our final game and we are determined to get a positive result.”