Adrian Frater, News Editor

WESTERN BUREAU:

EASTERN CONFEDERATION champions St. George's and their central Jamaica counterparts, Sporting Central, took over joint leadership of the four-team Wray and Nephew National Premier League play-offs when they both emerged with victories from yesterday's second-round game.

St. George's, behind a late second-half strike by Damion Harwood, handed first-round leaders Granville a 1-0 defeat at the Catherine Hall Stadium in Montego Bay.

At Brancourt in Clarendon, Sporting Central blanked Police National courtesy of goals by Cornel Larmond and Oneke Ford. As a consequence of yesterday's results, St.George's and Sporting Central are locked atop the standings on four points each, followed by western champions Granville on three - from their first-round win against Police National who sit at the bottom of the standings without a point.

In the game in Montego Bay, Granville had the better of the early exchanges but as the game progressed, the harder-running St. George's took over and could have won the game by a much wider margin.

"Our transition game worked beautifully for us today as we did not allow Granville to dictate the pace of the game," said St. George's coach, Donavan Dickie. "After dropping a point at home against Sporting Central on Sunday, we realised that we needed to take full points on the road today." In the first half, Granville should have taken the lead when David Gilliard missed the easiest of chances in the 30th minute when he got away before the goal but, to the disbelief of his teammates, scooped his shot wide.

Shot wide

In the 33rd minute, St. George's should have scored when Donavan Davis turned sweetly on the edge of the penalty area but hooked his shot wide of the goal. The half ended 0-0.

The second half saw beautiful end-to-end action with Granville creating and wasting at least two good chances in the 47th and 62nd minutes respectively. First, Jermaine Anderson directed his close-range header wide of the goal and then his speculative long-range shot sailed inches wide of the goal.

With time running out and a draw looking likely, St. George's struck in the 85th minute. The Granville defence was caught napping by a looping right-sided cross and the alert Harwood nodded home easily, making the final score 1-0.

In the game at Brancourt, former Glenmuir daCosta Cup star Larmond sent Sporting Central ahead in the 12th minute and Ford sealed the issue in the 21st to hand Police National their second defeat from two starts.

St. George's 1

Damion Harwood 85th

Granville 0

Sporting Central 2

Cornel Larmond 12th, Oneke Ford 21st

Police National 0