Cornwall come from behind to draw first blood against Black River

TWELVE-TIME CHAMPIONS Cornwall College came from behind against Black River High School yesterday, coming away 3-1 winners to begin their ISSA/WATA daCosta Cup football second-round home-and-away tie at St Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS).

Black River’s Adrian Johnson opened the scoring in the fifth minute but the lead did not last long as Cornwall College’s Rackeem Grizzle equalised in the seventh minute. Lincoln Cox would put Cornwall ahead in the 13th minute before Braxton Richards completed in the 42nd minute.

Johnson shocked the Cornwall faithful with an 18-yard rocket, but it didn’t have the effect he would have intended.

The goal seemed to have triggered Cornwall, who responded through Grizzle, his snapshot forcing an error from goalkeeper Josaine Bennett.

Cornwall built on that momentum with Cox benefitting from a build-up down the right side to slot home from four yards out.

The icing on the cake came in the 42nd minute with Richards, Cornwall’s captain, climbing highest to head home a left-sided cross.

The second half remained goalless, despite Cornwall’s dominance.

In the 90th minute, Deshawn Evans had a golden opportunity to make it 4-1. With the opposing defenders behind him, Evans kicked the ball directly to the goalkeeper.

Dr Dean Weatherly, coach of Cornwall College, said the sky is the limit.

“Winning this game, it was a good feeling and it shows the maturity in the team. It is also showing that we are climbing up the ladder now and we have to just look and see how far we can go,” Weatherly confidently said.

“In the beginning, we were a bit unsettled, hence we went down one. But, when we started getting the first-minute burst, then we recovered. Putting the ball on the ground, playing well to instructions and Black River couldn’t manage that off-the-ball movement, and it paid dividends in the end. We got three goals out of it and I am quite pleased about that,” he added.

Vayden Hayle, coach of Black River, said basic errors caused the defeat.

“We talked about this. If you keep making mistakes against quality teams, they are going to capitalise on it. I expected better from my keeper, quality keeper. Conceding the third goal just before the first half finished kind of dampened our spirit. The team is young, so they will learn from it. I think we came up good in the second half. They never drop them head, they worked hard. It is a good Cornwall College team, a very technical one, that they did well against.

He added “19 years of not being in the second round, it is possible that they had jitters, they are youngsters. We would have talked about it up this morning, not to let the pressure get to you. I think they represented their school well, 3-1 down against a dominant Cornwall College side. People were looking at six, seven love after the first half, they really came into their own.”

Both teams will play again on Wednesday, October 25 at Jarrett.

Yesterday’s Results

Tacky 0-0 Cedric Titus

DeCarteret College 0-8 Clarendon

St Mary 0-7 Garvey Maceo

Black River 1-3 Cornwall

McGrath 1-0 Edwin Allen

Vere 1-4 Frome

William Knibb 0-0 Central

Christiana 3-0 Rusea’s

Port Antonio 1-0 Manning’s

Ocho Rios 1-2 Happy Grove

Belair 1-1 Mile Gully

Horace Clarke 0-2 Dinthill

Munro 0-1 Manchester