Reno seal title with 2-0 win

Adrian Frater, News Editor

Western Bureau:

As was expected, Reno crowned themselves champions of The Captain's Bakery & Grill-sponsored Western Super League with a round of matches to spare, when they blanked Bamboo 2-0 at the Bamboo grounds in Hanover on Wednesday afternoon.

Reno, who are unbeaten in the 21 games they have played - 19 wins, two draws - are now on an unassailable 59 points, rendering their final-round home game against Montpelier an exercise without any real significance.

"We just wanted to collect the one point we needed against Bamboo to give us the title," said Reno's coach Michael Graham. "It has been quite a long season but at the end of the day we have achieved the objective we set ourselves, which was to win the competition."

Prizes

By virtue of winning the competition, the Reno team will now take home the $150,000 winner's purse, The Captain's Bakery & Grill Trophy, and will play off with the other three regional champions for the two slots that will become available, via relegation, in the 2009-10 Digicel Premier League.

Seba United, who chased the Reno team for most of the season, were in spanking form in their penultimate game against nemesis Violet Kickers, winning 7-0 in their Montego Bay derby. The win moved Seba United to 54 points.

"We really wanted to win this competition to get a shot at returning to the Digicel Premier League but it was not meant to be," said Kareen Kelly, administrator of the Seba United team. "We will just have to regroup and try again next season."

In sliding to their embarrassing defeat, the Violet Kickers team was condemned to relegation and will now return to the Claro-sponsored St James Senior League next season. Prosper, which withdrew from the competition two rounds ago, is the other relegated team.

In other games played on Wednesday, Catherine Hall clipped Exidos 1-0, Wadadah edged Frome 2-1, while Granville and Montpelier played out a 1-1 draw.

The latest point standings read as follows: Reno 59, Seba United 54, Bamboo 36, Catherine Hall 35, Frome 33, Granville 30, Montpelier 24, Wadadah 21, Petersfield 21, Exidos 20 and Violet Kickers 12. Prosper, which languished at the bottom of the standings from their first game, withdrew after 19 rounds of matches.

In today's final round of matches, the fixtures read as follows: Exidos vs Petersfield at Bounty Hall at 3:30 p.m., Reno vs Montpelier at Frome Sports Ground at 5 p.m., Wadadah vs Bamboo at Jarrett Park at 3:30 p.m., Seba vs Granville at Jarrett Park at 5:30 p.m., and Catherine Hall vs Violet Kickers at Herbert Morrison at 3:30 p.m.