By Anthony Foster, Freelance Writer
Wolmer's Curtis Thomas (left) tackles Kingston College's Richard West during their Walker Cup football semi-final match at Anthony Spaulding Sports Complex yesterday. KC won 3-2. - Ian Allen/Staff Photographer
THERE WILL be no Corporate Area double schoolboy football champions this year after Wolmer's went down 3-2 to arch rivals Kingston College (KC) in their Walker Cup semi-final clash at Anthony Spaulding Sports Complex yesterday.
National Under-20 player Richard West (30th and 70th minutes ) and Leroux Lothian (28th) got the goals for Kingston College while Luton Shelton (53rd and 91st) scored for Wolmer's.
The win means Kingston College will face Charlie Smith, who defeated Spanish Town 2-1, in Saturday's final at the same venue starting at 3:00 p.m.
Marcelin Blackburn (21st) and Kimarly Grange (49th) scored for Charlie Smith while Ravi Bonnick (50th) replied for the losers.
Kingston College played a sit and wait game and Wolmer's game plan to use Curtis Thomas to mark West failed miserably.
The ineffectiveness of Thomas was exposed early when West took a ball from midway in Wolmer's half to the edge of the area before firing to goal. The 'keeper failed to hold on and Lothian made it 1-0 for KC from the rebound.
Two minutes later, West again showed his class by beating two defenders before firing pass the diving Craig Brooks in goal to make it 2-0 for KC after 30 minutes.
At that point, Wolmer's had their backs against the wall and were forced to put pressure on their opponents. The move brought success when Shelton scored from a mix-up in KC's 18-yard box.
The game heated up in the second half but it was Kingston College who capitalised when West scored in the 70th minute to make it 3-1. That did not stop Wolmer's from pushing for more goals and Shelton was again at the right place to score a consolation goal in the dying stages of the game to make it 3-2.
Winning coach Stratton Palmer said that after watching Wolmer's against Bridgeport in the previous round he had worked out how to counter them.
"They plough the midfield, so what we did was to use the middle of the field and play to the wings so we could get away from that cluster of players they have in the midfield. That gave us our first two goals," Palmer said.
Wolmer's coach, Michael Francis, said his team outplayed KC in all departments but poor finishing let them down.
"However, goals win matches and we did not score our chances," Francis said.
