Kwesi Mugisa, Staff Reporter
Dever Orgill (Titchfield, front) controls the ball ahead of Happy Grove's Kevon Markland in their Group L (a) daCosta Cup match on Monday. Titchfield won 3-0. - IAN ALLEN/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
TITCHFIELD HIGH administered a 3-0 thrashing to group leaders Happy Grove as play in Group L (a) of the Pepsi/ISSA/JN daCosta Cup concluded at the Carder Park field in Portland on Monday.
It was by no means a happy visit to the Port Antonio ground for Happy Grove. Titchfield, already mathematically eliminated from moving on, came out with a point to prove as they played for pride and dominated the game from the very beginning.
A well-taken 13th minute penalty by Segaye Oakley would put them ahead relatively early. That was after midfielder Orlando Melhado was hacked down in the box after squeezing his way between two defenders.
Titchfield continued to have the better of the play and narrowly missed opportunities to extend their lead even further.
They would however find the back of the net in the 34th minute thanks to the brilliant combination of national Under-15 representative Dever Orgill and striker Adrian Wright. Wright played the ball wide to Orgill who played back a one-time pass, Wright then juggled the ball before blasting it wide of Happy Grove custodian Deron Duncan.
Much to the delight of the fans, Orgill etched his name on the scoresheet in the 90th minute. A ball played through saw him cut back on defender Adrian Bignall before calmly rolling the ball past both the defender and keeper who lay in a heap at his feet.
Titchfield coach Andrew Edwards, though not moving on in the competition, was pleased with the way his team played.
"I think this was our best game of the season. We communicated well and I am happy about that," Edwards said. "Twenty of our 22 players will be returning next year and we have a very young team." he said.
Happy Grove coach Gary Dinnal was obviously not pleased with the result.
"At the beginning of the game, we were disorganised and disoriented, the midfield did not show up in the first half and defensively we were weak." Dinnal said.
The loss sees Happy Grove finish second in the group behind Port Antonio and they will now have to play away to the winner of Group L (b) in a playoff.
