Frome Technical's goalkeeper, Tristan Sommerville, gets to a high ball just ahead of two of his defenders in the first half of yesterday's first leg of the Olivier Shield series against Manning Cup champions Excelsior High at Jarrett Park. The game ended 1-1.
-Patrick Campbell photoPaul A. Reid, Staff Reporter
WESTERN BUREAU:
THE TOP schoolboy teams in the island, daCosta Cup champions Frome Technical and Manning Cup victors Excelsior High, played to a 1-1 draw in the first leg of the Olivier Shield at Jarrett Park yesterday, setting up a promising return leg in Kingston on Thursday.
Kenroy McKay had given the Kingston team the lead after 18 minutes but daCosta Cup finals hero Adrian Robinson levelled the scores in the 60th minute in front of a disappointing turnout.
Compared to the bumper crowd that crammed into Jarrett Park the previous weekend to watch the daCosta Cup final, yesterday was way less than half that size.
BOTH TEAMS ENTERTAINED
Those who turned out got a treat however as both teams entertained with Frome's Errol Bryan turning in a mature performance, dictating the game from midfield and forcing his team forward.
Central midfielder Hugh Howell was the best player for Excelsior while Ricardo Ximines failed to get the space needed and was shut out by the Frome defence.
In the first game of the doubleheader, St. George's College retained the ISSA all-island Under-16 title when they beat Mannings 2-1.
Kevon McBean scored in the 29th and 63rd minutes for St George's, the Corporate Area champions, while Draion McNain got Mannings' goal in the 48th minute.
Both coaches in the Olivier Shield match said they were satisfied with the scoreline and hinted they would make changes going into the second leg at a venue yet to be decided.
Frome's Boysie Nicholson said he was expecting to get a two-goal lead from the first leg on the more familiar Jarrett Park turf but said after getting only one serious training session the previous week after the daCosta Cup win, he was relatively pleased.
Nicholson was not too impressed with the team's performance saying, "I don't think we played as well as we expected this afternoon. We were a bit flat, especially in the last 20 minutes of the game, and the Excelsior team showed more composure and they were much better than us in their passing ability and showed composure in and around the box."
He said they were much more relaxed at the start yesterday than they were against Titchfield in the Cup final but faded at the end. However, he promised they will be attacking from the start on Thursday.
Excelsior's Leebert Halliman said he thought his team should have come away with the win, blaming Frome's equaliser on an error but agreed with Nicholson that there was no real tension in the game after the Manning Cup.
He said winning the Olivier Shield was however a priority, "yes we would like to win the Olivier Shield so we came and gave our best, we tried to not allow Frome to play their usual game because we know they are a strong team and the more the game went on, the more we got in serious trouble as they are much older than us, stronger than us, play much harder than us and we had to ensure we took the lead early and try to take it from there."
Excelsior took the lead against the run of play as McKay saw goalkeeper Triston Sommerville off his line and looped the ball just over his head and under the bar.
After being on the defensive for the first 15 minutes, the goal seemed to wake up Excelsior and they pushed Frome right back into their own defensive third for long periods.
They were however unable to make that dominance pay off and it was after that period that Bryan took over the game with a series of brilliant plays.
SAVED OFF THE LINE
Five minutes before the end of the half he skipped away from defender Sheldon Gordon, dribbled into the area and beat goalkeeper Damion Reid with a cross that was a saved off the line by a defender.
Just before that, Steven Bennett's powerful strike from about 30 yards out was just wide of the Excelsior right upright.
With Bryan dictating the pace at the start of the second half it was only a matter of time before Frome drew level.
Robinson beat Reid and the entire Excelsior defence with a sweetly-timed volley from just to the right of the penalty area that flew into the far corner before the Excelsior team could react.
Three minutes later, he sent Jeolani Plummer away with a nicely weighed pass that was just scrambled out for a corner.
Shane Anderson should have given Frome the lead in the 69th minute when he was left all alone at the Excelsior right goalpost but was just late to get to a pass sent in low from the right side.
Late in the game, Excelsior got a number of good chances through Ximines, McKay and substitute Anthony Christie but failed to make use of them.
