Jones brothers’ braces bring ECA Junior Cup U9 triumph
Published:Sunday | March 19, 2023 | 1:50 AMOrane Buchanan - Staff Reporter
EMMANUEL CHRISTIAN Academy (ECA) are the Youth Football League’s Under-9 Junior Cup champions after a 4-1 win over Sts Peter and Paul Preparatory yesterday at the Constant Spring playfield.
The Gregory Jones-coached team entered Saturday’s final against the in-form Sts Peter and Paul Preparatory as heavy favourites but were made to work hard in order to lift the coveted trophy.
Sts Peter and Paul wasted little time as Dujuan Samuels silenced the ECA supporters within the first five minutes, completing a series of one-touch passes with a powerful finish from his left boot.
The much-talked-about playing style and championship mettle of the ECA was going to be tested.
The eventual champions wasted no time in putting themselves back in the game with Kamran Jones’ volley.
On the stroke of half-time, Jones was again in the thick of things, capitalising on a defensive error to hand his team a 2-1 lead.
Brother of Jones and ECA captain, Kristuf Jones, enjoyed a second-half brace of his own, ending the game as a contest.
Head coach Jones, incidentally the father of the goalscoring siblings, said, despite going down early, he wasn’t perturbed because he knew the quality his team had in its ranks.
TACTICAL CHANGE
“We know the calibre and quality players that we have. We saw that they made a tactical change and we adjusted and it worked like a charm for us. When we played them the first time, and defeated them 1-0, their best player was playing at the back, and in the finals he was playing up front. So we knew if he wasn’t playing defence, then they would have been exposed,” said the coach.
Sts Peter and Paul coach, Orlando Clarke, said, despite the defeat, he was a pleased man, having achieved the objectives of being part of the Junior Cup competition.
“The whole tournament was an experience that I wanted the players to have. Most of my players are playing for the first time with a referee and in front of a crowd. I actually came into this competition as a training session to see where my players are, so to get here is a milestone,” said Clarke.
Managing director of FYI Consultancy Group, organisers of the event, Paula Pinnock, has called the competition a success.
“We are very happy with how the tournament worked out. I’m exceptionally happy with the demonstration that we saw here today. We are happy with the overall response and thank God that the rain held up. The teams played their hearts out, there were crying, laughing, showboating, so we loved it because this is the energy that we wanted,” she said.
There were also invitational competitions on the day where ECA, competing among Under-11s, enjoyed a 2-0 penalty shoot-out win over Harbour View FC, and Hillel Academy claimed victory among Under-13s with a 5-3 victory over Allman Town Primary.
The competition was sponsored by Funland Jamaica, FYI, Wisynco, The Gleaner Company (Media) Ltd, Sports Development Foundation, ICWI, and Jamaica National.