Adrian Frater, News Editor

WESTERN BUREAU:

BELMONT AND Petersfield joined the list of first-round winners in the 2006 Westmoreland Football Asso-ciation (WFA)/Paul Buchanan Knockout football competition this week when they both emerged victorious from their games against Straths and Orange Hill respectively.

They have now joined Negril, Grange Hill, Chantilly and Paul Island who will be taking first-round advantages into their second-round games, which will see the winners booking a place in the competition's top 16 and firmly in the race for the $60,000 winners purse.

In the game between Belmont and Straths, played at the Belmont Community Centre in Whitehouse, the home team was given a run by their opponents and just managed to snatch victory three minutes from full time.

Good game

Devin Dennis, who had a good game in attack for Belmont, got the only goal of the game in the 87th minute when he finally got the better of Straths' custodian and popped the ball into the goal, making the score 1-0.

In the Petersfield versus Orange Hill clash, played in Orange Hill, the home team missed a glorious opportunity to salvage a point from the game after squandering a penalty and they went on to lose 2-1.

After surviving a missed penalty in the 69th minute when Dale Gillard fired wide after Orange Hill were awarded a penalty, Petersfield struck back in the 75th minute when Kino Atkinson found himself with space before the goal and crashed the ball home, making the score 1-0.

With action swinging in their favour, Petersfield doubled their lead in the 85th minute when the wily Ricardo Coate danced through the defence and drove his close-range shot into the goal, making the score 2-0. With time running out and defeat looking a certainty, Orange Hill got a consolation goal in the 88th minute when they were awarded their second penalty of the game. This time Gillard was on target, converting to make the score 2-1. In the previous first round games, Negril blanked Three Miles River 2-0, Grange Hill mauled Roaring River 5-0, Chantilly outscored Frome 4-3, Uprising and Russia drew 1-1, Paul Island blanked Bluefields 5-0 while Robin Island and Mt. Grace ended 1-1.