Kwesi Mugisa, Staff Reporter
POLICE NATIONAL and Meadhaven F.C booked their places in the finals of the KSAFA Jamaica National Major League in eventful extra-time semi-finals at UWI Mona Bowl on Tuesday.
Police National advanced when they defeated Greenwich Town 3-2 on aggregate in controversial circumstances.
Greenwich Town came into the second leg of the semi-finals with a two-goal deficit to make up, a fact that was very much reflected in their early play as they sought to make up lost ground.
With it all to do, they came out the aggressor and scored an early first-half goal, courtesy off Marvin Powell in the third minute.
Much to the delight of their fans, a David Stultz strike in the 34th minute saw Greenwich Town erase the deficit and level the aggregate score going into half time.
HARD-FOUGHT SECOND HALF
The second half proved to be a hard fought, but scoreless affair and extra time was needed to garner a result.
Extra time appeared to be finishing in the same fashion and penalties loomed. But with a few minutes left until the end of play, a collision in the Greenwich Town six-yard box was deemed to be a penalty by referee Winston Delahaye, leading him to point to the spot.
This decision made him a very unpopular man with the Greenwich supporters, some of whom stormed the field in protest and later threw objects at him as they saw their season slipping away. When order had been restored by the security forces, Orville Smalling slotted home to give Police National the victory and leave Greenwich Town enraged.
This sentiment was obviously shared by their coach, Lloyd Hall, who abrasively refused to comment on the game
"Unno guh talk to unno police fren dem," he irately remarked, obviously feeling his team had lost due to a grand conspiracy.
DIFFICULT GAME
Police National's Calvin Lewis was pleased with his team's resilience
"It was a very difficult game. We played hard for the entire 90 minutes and extra time and once we were resolute, we knew we would be victorious."
In the day's other fixture, Meadhaven got by Rae Town 5-4 on penalties to book their place in the finals.
Meadhaven had forged ahead in the 52nd minute with a goal from Rohan Williams. However, in the 90th minute, Andrew Mais tapped in from a corner to throw Rae Town a lifeline, sending the game into extra time with jubilant spectators storming the pitch.
While injury time produced no result, it was not without its share of drama. A power cut following a brilliant Rae Town attempt at goal, forced a 15-minute delay just as extra time was coming to a close.
PENALTIES
When play resumed, despite continued positive play from both sides, there was no result and penalties were left to decide the other finalist.
Andrew Gibson (GK), David Reid, Robert Palmer, Norman Bailey and substitute Dwayne Williams all netted for Meadhaven. Anthony Leslie, Marie Williams, Nicholas Denton and substitute James Durrant scored for Rae Town, while Lennox Wright sent the ball far into the night sky.
Rae Town's Donavan Evans thought his team gave an admirable performance
"The guys put out a good fight. We are coming from the back of the table to the semi-finals and we gave a good account of ourselves."
Alrick Clarke, coach of Meadhaven, while pleased with his team's performance also looked towards the final.
"It was a well-deserved victory which could have gone anyway but we worked hard and executed well. It's our third time here and being victorious we will now turn our attention to winning the league."
