By Howard Walker, Staff ReporterDINTHILL TECHNICAL kept their semi-final hopes alive with a convincing 2-0 win over Black River in yesterday's ISSA Pepsi/Sports Plus daCosta Cup clash at Spanish Town Prison Oval.
Late goals by captain Orlando Dorma in the 81st and Christopher Morrison in the 90th minutes earned Dinthill three valuable points as they jumped to second in Group Two on four points, two behind defending champions Frome Technical and one ahead of Black River.
Incidentally, only two of the remaining eight teams have won the daCosta Cup. Frome Technical last year won their first while Dinthill last won in 1981.
In Group One, last year's losing finalists, Titchfield, blanked Christiana 2-0 while Glenmuir edged Godfrey Stewart 3-2.
JOINT GROUP LEADERS
Portland's Titchfield and Clarendon's Glenmuir are joint group leaders on four points and look set to advance to the semi-finals ahead of Godfrey Stewart out of Westmoreland and Mandeville's Christiana, both on one point.
At a packed Prison Oval, Dinthill, hunting their first title in 23 years, missed a host of scoring opportunities and it looked as if it was not going to be their day.
In the first half, Dinthill missed at least six clear-cut chances and could have won the game in the first 15 minutes. But poor shooting combined with some outstanding goalkeeping from Everaldo Walters kept Black River in the game as the half ended 0-0.
The second half was the same as Dinthill, through Dorma, Keeva Thomas and Christopher Morrison showed more verve than Black River and it was well deserved when Dorma pounced on a rebound after substitute Mario Greaves slipped by a defender and his shot was pushed into the path of the onrushing Dorma who slotted the ball home with nine minutes to go. The deadlock was broken and deservedly so.
THE FINAL NAIL
Then in the 90th minute, Morrison capped a fine display when he drove the final nail into Black River's coffin. Morrison latched on to another parried effort from Black River's goalkeeper to slot home from close range.
Winning coach, the veteran Frank Brown, said he was glad for the win after squandering numerous goalscoring chances.
"We should have won the game from the first half. We just keep missing all these goals," Brown said.
"When our backs are against the wall, that's the time play. I'm glad for this win. We wanted this win because everybody has us as losers and Frank Brown is not a loser," said Brown, one of the few coaches to win the daCosta and Manning Cup titles.
Meanwhile, losing coach Dale Bent was livid about his team's performance. "I'm very disappointed and our discipline in the game was a disgrace. This is the worst football game that I have seen Black River play," Bent said.
"I thought that Dinthill were the hungrier team and they came out to win this game. We cannot expect to go the semi-finals with this lacklustre performance," he said.
