Adrian Frater, News Editor

WESTERN BUREAU:

FROME TECHNICAL High School and Clarendon College advanced to the final of the Ben Francis Cup Knockout yesterday afternoon when they registered contrasting wins over Petersfield and Titchfield in their semi-finals in rural Jamaica.

In their semi-final showdown against Titchfield at Brancourt in Clarendon, the red-hot Clarendon College team registered an impressive 4-0 win while in the West-moreland derby at the Frome Sports Ground, Frome Technical, behind a Sidane McCreath strike, clipped Petersfield 1-0.

As was expected, the game at Frome was chock-full of excitement as in addition to a place in the Ben Francis KO final, bragging rights were also at stake between the teams who were also vying for the unofficial title of the best schoolboy team in Westmoreland.

"We came here expecting a good performance from the Petersfield team but we were nonetheless quite confident that we would have won," said Boysie Nicholson, the coach of the Frome team. "We are even more confident now that we will win the title come this Saturday afternoon at Jarrett Park." The game started with Petersfield getting the first scoring opportunity in the second minute when a loose ball fell into the path of Corey Rodriques. However, with a clear shot on goal, he booted wide. Five minutes later, Frome countered and came close to grabbing the lead when Leroy Taylor fired a savage grounder just wide of the goal.

Solid attacks

Midway through the half, Frome began to take control, forcing back the Petersfield defence with solid attacks. They got a glorious opportunity in the 28th minute when Keswick Samuels squared beautifully to Clovis Crooks but he side-footed over the crossbar.

With time running out in the half, Frome took the lead in the 43rd minute. On a break through the midfield, McCreath found himself with goalkeeper Oshane Lewis at his mercy and calmly lobbed the ball out of his reach, making the halftime score 1-0.

Down into second half action, the Petersfield team got and wasted a glorious chance to draw level in the 46th minute. Orpheous McPherson got behind the Frome defence but hesitated and then fired wide when he came under pressure.

After surviving another Frome attack in the 53rd minute when Samels fired wide from close range, Petersfield got and squandered another good chance in the the 60th minute when Carlyle Henry pounced on a lofted cross before the goal but nodded straight at the goalkeeper.

In the dying minutes of the game the Petersfield team threw everything into attack in a bold bid for a late equaliser. However, the Frome defence proved equal to the task, holding them at bay.

"We gave our best today but our best was just not good enough," said coach Audley 'Tom Tom' Thomas, the coach of the Peters-field team. "We will just have to turn our attention to the daCosta Cup and hope we enjoy better success there."