Howard Cooke, Anchovy to battle for trophy

Adrian Frater, News Editor

Western Bureau:

Defending champions Howard Cooke Primary and Anchovy Primary earned the right to meet in this Thursday's St James/Victoria Mutual Building Society Under-13 football final, after registering contrasting wins in yesterday's semi-finals at the Urban Development Corporation playing field in Montego Bay.

In the first semi-final, Howard Cooke defeated Chetwood Primary 2-0 behind a double strike by skipper Peter Lee Vassell, while in the second game, Anchovy defeated Barracks Road 3-1 on penalties, after the teams had played to a 1-1 regulation and extra-time stalemate.

"Both semi-final games were keenly contested and full congratulations must go to the two fina-lists," said Hopeton Gilchrist, the competition's coordinator. "I believe the final should generate a fair amount of excitement."

In their game against Chetwood, Howard Cooke took the lead in the second minute when skipper Vassell, well positioned inside the goal area, turned sweetly, and with the goalkeeper at his mercy, calmly booted home to make the score 1-0.

Futile efforts

Following Howard Cooke's goal, the Chetwood team went into overdrive with the wily Alrick Ottey, the competition's leading goalscorer, running hard at the Howard Cooke defence and firing several shots towards the goal. However, his efforts proved futile.

Having survived Chetwood's unsuccessful bids to draw level, Howard Cooke doubled their lead in the 24th minute. The wily Vassell dribbled away from several chasing defenders and fired home powerfully, making the final score 2-0.

In the second semi-final, Barracks Road had the better of the early exchanges with strikers Theodore Whitmore Jr and Shay Grant putting pressure on the Anchovy defence. They were rewarded in the 24th minute when Grant fired home a close-range effort, making the score 1-0.

With time running out in the game and Barracks Road seeming to be on the verge of joining Howard Cooke in the final, Anchovy found a last-minute equaliser, as a shot from close to the goal, which was taken by Washington Brown, flew into the roof of the net, making the score 1-1.

With extra-time producing no further goals, it came down to the dreaded penalty shoot-out to decide the winner, with each team having four apiece. Anchovy were perfect from the spot, converting their three shots, while Barracks Road missed twice.