George Henry, Gleaner Writer
Manchester's referees will not be able to reclaim the Howard Russell Trophy for the South Central Football Referees' Competition, despite scoring a 2-1 win over Clarendon in their match at the New Bowens Community Centre in Clarendon.
Goals in the 15th and 28th minutes by Kirk Williams and Lynford Burrell respectively, were not enough for the Manchester aggregation, who needed to win by four clear goals to be in with a realistic chance of retaining the trophy. Clarendon's lone goal came in the 10th minute courtesy of Michael Wong.
Great chance
Interestingly, St. Elizabeth and St. Catherine are in with a great chance of copping the award as both teams are level on points and a win for either team will decide the recipients of the coveted trophy.
However, St. Elizabeth with a better goal average must fancy there chances as all they need is a draw against St. Catherine on Saturday at the Santa Cruz Community Centre.
According to Dudley Powell, league director, the competition is in its
second year and the referees within the confederation have shown much interest.
"In fact, the level of participation has exceeded my expectations and we are hoping to extend it to the other Referees' Groups as it is not only viewed as a warm-up exercise for our annual referees' fitness test, but a way of restoring and maintaining the camaraderie within the referees' fraternity," said Powell.
