- Junior Dowie/Staff Photographer
Barbican defender Nicholas Walker gets a head to the ball ahead of his team mate and JDF's attacker Mark Miller (right) during JNBS/KSAFA Super League action at Up Park Camp yesterday. The game ended 1-1.
Daraine Luton, Freelance Writer
MAVERLEY/HUGHENDEN gave themselves an early Christmas present by qualifying for the midseason final of the JNBS/KSAFA Super League football competition. Yesterday, Rockfort became the latest team to feel their wrath, taking a 0-3 whopping at Rockfort. The win takes Maverley/Hughenden to 23 points from 10 games.
Up Park Camp was the scene of a dull match up between Barbican and host JDF yesterday. At the end of it all, both teams took a point after playing to a 1-1 stalemate.
Barbican opened the scoring in the second minute through a Sheldon Nelson strike but this was cancelled out in the fourth minute by the army's marksman Mark Miller.
While neither team took the attack to their opponents in a manner that suggested that they wanted to win the game, the marching men were the least impressive. Apart from a ten-minute period in the first half that forced the visitors into a defensive mode, the JDF lacked the fire power that they are known for.
Meanwhile, Barbican were a bit unlucky not to have taken all three points considering that they had two shots crashing off JDF's goal post and re-bounding into play. Midway through the first half, Ishmeal Jackson's found the woodwork in his way when he attempted to break the deadlock. Likewise, Casey Lake had JDF's custodian Luke Davis beaten by his 25 yarder that hit the left upright, this in the 65th minute.
Adding to Barbican's bad luck, referee Stephen Bell called back a penalty after consultation with his assistant Rainaldo Francis. The game was 38 minutes old when Bell, pointed to the spot after Nelson was bundled over in the penalty area by Miller. However, Francis, who was doing duties as a linesman held up his flag indicating that the player was offside, a judgement that Bell accepted.
Meanwhile, the soldiers got their chances. Barbican's goalie Nevada Neufville looked shaky standing between the sticks. However, apart from Robert Wright whose header forced him to tip the ball over the bar in the 25th minute, the soldiers were reluctant to pull the trigger.
"We did not play as well as we should so a draw is a good result," JDF's coach Alverine Legister told The Sunday Gleaner.
"A point is better than none...drawing a game is the next best alternative to losing," added Legister.
David Jardene, coach of Barbican, was happy with the result. While stating that his team did not play as well as they should have, he said "a draw is a favourable result".
Results: Bull Bay 0 Mountain View 0; JDF 1 Barbican 1; Rockfort 0 Maverly 3; Boys Town 1 Santos 1; Duhaney Park 0 Olympic Garden 0
