Adrian Frater, News Editor
WESTERN BUREAU:
NEGRIL BECAME the first finalists in the 2006 Captain's Bakery Western Super League yesterday when they played out an extra-time 1-1 draw with Sandy Bay in their second leg semi-final game at the Frome Sports Ground to advance 2-1 on aggregate.
Negril's opponent in the final will be decided this afternoon when Granville FC and Monte-pelier square off in their second-leg final at the Catherine Hall Stadium at 3:30. The teams battled to a 2-2 draw in their first-leg encounter.
In yesterday's game, the Sandy Bay team, which came in trailing 1-0 after the first leg, erased the deficit with a 23rd minute strike by Roy Gilchrist and held on to their lead until the end of regulation time to throw the game in extra time.
With a minute to go in extra-time and the dreaded penalty shoot-out looming, Negril got the all-important clincher with the last kick of the game when Kevon Grant nodded in a low left-side cross, making the score in the game 1-1 and sending his team into the final by virtue of its first-leg goal.
"We did not play as well as we should have, but in the end we achieved our objective," said Junior Francis, the coach of the Negril team. "We will now have to go back to the drawing board and sharpen our game for the final."
For Sandy Bay's coach, Corporal Craig Oates, the defeat was a heartbreaking one as his team dominated most the regulation and extra-time play but fell prey to faulty finishing, especially by Melvin Donald, who squandered at least three clear opportunities with the goalkeeper at his mercy.
"We did everything right except scoring our goals today," said a dejected Oates. "We had Negril on the run all afternoon and maybe the goal they got was the only thing they got right all afternoon."
