Robert Bailey, Freelance Writer

Central Kingston's Richard Allison dribbles away from an Olympic Gardens player during their Western Union Jackie Bell Knockout encounter on Tuesday at Winchester Park. Central Kingston won 1-0. - Junior Dowie/Staff Photographer

CENTRAL KINGSTON and Duhaney Park are through to this year's Red Stripe Champions Knockout competitions after victories over Olympic Gardens and the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF), respectively, in the KSAFA Jackie Bell Knockout on Tuesday.

At Up Park Camp, Duhaney Park defeated JDF 1-0, while at Winchester Park, a 64th-minute strike by Leon Small carried Central Kingston to a 1-0 victory over Olympic Gardens.

Central Kingston came out in the first half firing on all cylinders and created numerous clear-cut chances but were let down by poor finishing from the likes of Ricardo Taylor, Kenneth Ellis and Small. Damion Bradshaw had Olympic Gardens' best chance of the half but his point-blank shot was spectacularly saved by goalkeeper Troy Neale.

Small saves the day

In the second half, Central Kingston continued to threaten the Olympic Gardens defence and were finally rewarded when Small fired home a well-placed cross from Ellis. A few minutes later, Garfield Gordon thought he had given Olympic Gardens the equaliser, but with an empty goal to aim at, he shot high over the crossbar.

Bradshaw also came close to giving his team the lead in the dying moments but his shot was just wide of the target.

The coach of Central Kingston, Karl Russell, was happy with his team's performance.

"It was all about team effort and I am really pleased with the performance of the team today," Russell said.

"I am going to sit down and go back to the drawing board with the rest of the coaching staff and work out our plan for the Red Stripe knockout," Russell said.

Donald Johnson, coach of Olympic Gardens, said: "I am very disappointed because we didn't use our initiative to capitalise on the number of chances that we got."