By LeVaughn Flynn, Staff Reporter
Arnett Garden's forward Walter Boyd shields Sporting Central Academy's Dushane Ashman from the ball during the second leg of their JNBS Federation Cup KO clash at the Tony Spaulding Sports Complex yesterday. Arnett won 4-0 to finish 7-0 on aggregate. - Ricardo Makyn / Staff Photographer
ARNETT GARDENS advanced to round three of the JNBS/JFF Federation Cup Knockout competition yesterday after schooling Sporting Central Academy 4-0 in their return leg match at the Tony Spaulding Sports Complex.
Sporting Central beat Arnett 2-0 in the first leg but were stripped of the point after it was discovered that they used a pair of ineligible players. Arnett were thus awarded the victory by a 3-0 margin.
Leon Strickland's brace in the 26th and 40th minutes gave Arnett a comfortable first-half lead and helped his team to stave off the energetic bunch from Clarendon.
Demetrio Billet, who cracked a spectacular shot from 30 yards out in the 52nd minute, extended Arnett's lead followed by Walter Boyd's strike eight minutes later.
Arnett's coach, Jerome Waite, said his team wasn't jaded by the initial loss in the first leg and that it only helped them to prepare better.
"We have seen them for 90 minutes and we know what to expect, so it was a situation of the team stepping up a notch," Waite stated.
"We did that today and we see that they were no match. We dominated in defence, attack and midfield."
In the final 30 minutes of play, Arnett squandered at least a dozen scoring opportunities and it was clear that they had become complacent.
"I am disappointed with the performance in the latter part of the game," Waite said.
Sporting Central's coach, Brandon Murray, admitted that his young team was outclassed and that it was slightly stunned by playing the three-time National Premier League (NPL) champs.
"Arnett were by far the better team," Murray said.
"Coming to Arnett's home ground, the guys are young, there was lot of intimidation initially in the game and that threw us out," he said.
"We are a young team and we have a lot of promise."
Two of three other Premier League clubs led the list of teams which advanced to the third round from the five other ties that were decided.
Montego Bay's Seba United beat St. Mary's Axum 1-0 off an 88th minute goal from Wilfred Francis to seal a 3-1 aggregate win and Trelawny's Invaders beat Orange Hill 1-0 also.
However, Star Cosmos got a mighty scare before being saved by rain. They won the first game 4-1 against Portland's St. George's, but were trailing 2-0 at half-time when continuous heavy showers forced the game to be called off.
That match will be replayed, possibly Sunday, when Ochi and Montpellier meet in their return leg second round clash. Ochi won the first leg 2-0.
In other clashes yesterday, Santos advanced from an all-KSAFA battle, beating the Jamaica Defence Force 3-1 for a similar aggregate after their goalless finish in the first leg tie, while Berlin, who started with a 2-0 advantage from the first match registered a 3-1 win over Middlesex for a 5-1 aggregate.
Windsor Lions won 1-0 to break the deadlock after their first leg 1-1 finish against Flames.
