PORTLAND ALMOST spoiled the party for St. Catherine following a 3-3 return leg draw as the last quarter-final game of the JFF/Pepsi Under-15 competition was played at Carder Park on Tuesday.
In an exciting game which had consequences in terms of topping Zone B, St. Catherine struck first through Darren Mattocks in the 14th minute and this lead was good enough to go into halftime.
However, Carl Pusey replied for Portland with a strike soon after play restarted in the second half to level the scores.
St. Catherine would once again surge ahead through the boot of Mattocks who restored the lead in the 49th minute. A determined Portland would however be heard from again in the 65th minute as ace striker Dever Orgil notched his fifth goal in two games to tie the scores again.
FINAL REPLY
No one would have bet against St. Catherine winning the game when a spectacular effort by Allan Sylvester saw the ball rattle the net directly from a corner kick.
Portland responded for the final time almost on the stroke of fulltime when they were awarded a penalty which Pusey stepped up and finished well.
Unlike the first leg at the Spanish Town Prison Oval where St. Catherine had scored three goals with no reply, this time they also conceded three. This saw St. Catherine draw their last two games of the quarter-final round but still manage to top the zone ahead of St Andrew by a single point.
St. Andrew would have been hoping that Portland would have been able to hand St. Catherine their first loss of the round, which would have seen the teams tied on points and St. Andrew top the zone on goal difference.
The KSAFA team had made a valiant effort to regain the top spot when it slammed Hanover 4-0 on Monday at the Watson Taylor Park to temporarily top the zone. That result meant that a St. Catherine loss would have seen St. Andrew top the zone and avoid playing KSAFA colleagues Kingston in the semi-final round.
ST ANDREW'S FATE
St. Catherine will feel they deserved to be on top as they had earlier beaten St. Andrew 2-1 at home to take over zone leadership. Topping the zone for St. Catherine now means that they avoid playing Kingston, who topped Zone A and qualified for the semi-finals in relative ease as they failed to drop a game.
Taking on Kingston is a fate which will now await St. Andrew, this is a result both they and the KSAFA region would have hoped to avoid until the final round.
The KSAFA area will now be denied the prospect of having an all KSAFA final. St. Catherine will now face Clarendon in the semi-finals while St. Andrew will meet Kingston. The semi-finals will also be played in a home-and-away format and are expected to start this weekend.
