Adrian Frater, News Editor

WESTERN BUREAU:

RUSEA'S BECAME the first Zone B qualifier for the inter-zone round of the ISSA/Pepsi/Digicel daCosta Cup yesterday when they spanked hapless Knockalva 5-0 on their home turf at the Colin Miller Complex in Lucea, Hanover, to move to 25 points.

The Anthony 'Follies' Williams-coached 'Russians', with their impressive record of eight wins and a draw in nine games, can only be caught for zonal honours by second-place Frome, who clipped Green Island 1-0 in their game to move to 19 points.

"I am a little bit disappointed that we did not get a domino score (6-0) today because we got the chances," said coach Williams. "However, it was difficult to motivate the boys because they had previously beaten this Knockalva team 5-1 on their home ground."

Striker Roydel Moncrieffe (two), Tremaine Perry and substitutes Andrew Thorpe and Romando Kerr were the goalscorers for Rusea's. Moncrieffe's double has lifted his season's tally to five goals while Perry has now scored nine times. Over in the competitive Zone E, third-place Munro College (18) gave themselves an important lifeline as, while they were outscoring Maggotty 2-0 in their game, leaders Lacovia (23) and second-place St Elizabeth Tech-nical High School (22) were playing out a 0-0 draw in their top-of-the-table clash.

Rusea's rushed to a 2-0 half-time lead courtesy of Moncrieffe, who first fired in a pass from midfield in the 10th minute and then struck a powerful close-range volley from an aerial cross two minutes later.

Five minutes into the second half, Perry waltzed through the Knockalva defence to make it 3-0. Substitute Thorpe made it 4-0 in the 63rd minute before Kerr completed the 5-0 thrashing on the stroke of fulltime.

Preliminary round

The competition, which is midway through the second phase of its preliminary round, will continue this afternoon with a total of eight games in Zone A and Zone L, which are both interestingly poised as teams take aim on the inter-zone round.

In Zone A, the top-of-the-table clash between leaders St James High (20) and second-place Maldon High (18) is crucial as both teams will be anxious to put some daylight between themselves and third-place Cornwall College (14), who face a tricky assignment against Irwin High (10), who surprised them 1-0 in the first round.

In Zone L (a), Titchfield (12), who will play out-of-contention Happy Grove (eight) and Fair Prospect (11), who meet Buff Bay, who are also out of contention; will qualify for the four-team playoffs with Zone L (b) qualifiers St. Thomas Technical and Paul Bogle with a win. However, should they falter, the door would be thrown wide open for Port Antonio, who have completed their fixture with 12 points.

TODAY'S GAMES

(Home teams listed first)

Zone A: St James vs Maldon at Jarrett Park, Cornwall College vs Irwin, Green Pond vs Spot Valley.

Zone L (a): Buff Bay vs Fair Prospect at Lynch Park, Happy Grove vs Titchfield.

Zone L (b): Robert Lightbourne vs Seaforth, Morant Bay vs Yallahs at Paul Bogle.

St Thomas Tech vs Paul Bogle at Eastern Banana.

YESTERDAY'S RESULTS

Zone B: Rusea's 5 Knockalva 0, Frome 1 Green Island 0.

Zone D: Cedric Titus 2 Ocho Rios 0.

Zone E: STETHS 0 Lacovia 0, Balaclava 6 B.B. Coke 3, Munro 2 Maggotty 0.

Zone F: Bellefield 3 Belair 1, Manchester 5 Cross Keys 0, DeCarteret College 1 Porus 0.

Zone G: Knox vs Edwin Allen (blown off).

Zone H: Clarendon College 2 Denbigh 1.

Zone K: St Mary High 2 Oracabessa 0, Iona 1 Brimmervale 0, St Mary Tech. 1 Islington 0, Annotto Bay 6 Tacky 0.