Bonitto Mayne of Happy Grove (right) tackles Rodney Dixon of St. Thomas from behind during their daCosta Cup encounter yesterday at the Hector's River playfield . St. Thomas won 1-0. - Ian Allen VINEL KESTOE of St. Thomas Technical staged a one-man show at Hectors River playfield yesterday, demonstrating exceptional skill and passing ability, but his teammates failed to make full use of it in a 1-0 daCosta Cup win over Happy Grove.
Fittingly, it was Kestoe who scored the all-important goal after he was hacked to the turf 20-yards out. He promptly hit to the left of goalkeeper Benhope Monroe in the 24th minute.
The win keeps St. Thomas Technical at the top of Zone K with 17 points, well clear of Happy Grove who remain on seven points.
"We performed very well," said St. Thomas Technical's coach Alfred Pennant.
"The only thing that I can complain about is that we should have won by a bigger margin ... it should have been at least 3-0.
"The players really have to make a special effort to score a greater number of the chances presented to them during the games they play," he said.
While Pennant enjoyed his team's work, Happy Grove's coach Cleve Bailey, obviously upset with his team's third loss of the season, refused to comment on his team's performance.
Kestoe began his work in the 15th minute when he used his delightful skill to get past a couple of Happy Grove defenders down the right side and unleashed a wonderful square that just missed the head of the unmarked Randy Anderson inside the box.
A minute after ensuring that St. Thomas Technical took the lead in the game, marred by stoppages as spectators encroachment on the field, Kestoe collected a pass from Ryan Kirkland in mid-pitch dribbled his way to the right of the box and kicked just over the bar.
Two minutes before the break, the diminutive player made another solo run and fired inches past the left upright with Monroe beaten.
Playing at home and needing to lift their game, Happy Grove started the second half with a lot more purpose and had St. Thomas on the defensive in the first five minutes.
They should have scored within that period as Ricardo Watson's pass from the right to Allen saw the lanky player kick wide of the left upright from inside the box.
St. Thomas gradually began to take over the second half and had national under-17 player Michael Thomas not missed two glorious opportunities to score within two minutes after coming on as a substitute for Anderson, Happy Grove might have been humiliated.
Kirkland made a pass to Kestoe in the middle for him to relay an excellent pass to Thomas just to the left of the box and Thomas, with only the keeper to beat, kicked wide. Another pass from Kestoe gave him another chance a minute later, but his tame shot was well handled by Monroe.
By Fitzroy Prendergast
Staff Reporter
