Rodwood triumph in wild mid-season final

Anthony Minott, Freelance Writer

Portmore's Rodwood United overcame plucky Frazer's Whip and triumphed 5-3 in a wild LIME St Catherine FA Major League mid-season final at the Prison Oval last Thursday night.

Mark Walters struck a double (25th, 82nd) for Rodwood, while there were other goals from Omar Washington (third), Cleveland Hall (10th), and Dale Dixon (71st - penalty).

Alton Brown (31st), Ricardo White (54th penalty), and Kemar Beckford (84th) netted Frazer's goals.

Frazer's Whip were losing their second game of the season after going down to another Portmore team, Wanderers, earlier in the season.

The Waterford-based Rodwood shocked Frazer's Whip's fans as they went 3-0 up after just 25 minutes. Washington capitalised from a defensive mistake and stabbed home the first goal in the third minute, then seven minutes later a super strike from Hall left the Frazer's Whip team puzzled. Chase Spence whipped in a cross from the left side and Hall timed his shot to perfection as he hit on the volley past.

Walters scored his first goal as he muscled past a defender, then rounded the keeper to slot into an empty net.

Powerhouse on target

The wily Brown gave Frazer's hope when he struck a powerhouse from the edge of the 18-yards box past the outstretched arms of Rodwood custodian, Nevada Neuville, as fans shouted "Frazer's! Frazer's! Frazer's!" when they scored.

They soon cut the lead to one goal as Ricardo White netted from the penalty spot after Brown was floored inside the box.

Dixon restored his team's two-goal cushion from the penalty spot. The penalty was forced after Spence was cut down inside Frazer's Whip's penalty area. Walters rounded off his team's scoring eight minutes from time.

But Beckford scored two minutes later to kill off any hope they had of staging a recovery.

"When we played them before, we lost 1-0 at Frazer's. I finally have the edge on Frazer's," Floyd Coke, coach of Rodwood, said after the game.

He added: "They are a young team and young teams have weaknesses. When you play them directly, they normally lose."

Frazer's coach, Raymond Gordon, questioned some of his players' commitment to the team.

"We didn't have enough men who were confident we could win today. Some of the players gave up when we were down 3-0."