Lion rule over Jungle

Richard Bryan, Gleaner Writer

Goalkeeper Shawn Sawyers limped off his Effortville Community Centre home ground yesterday with his shoulders in a cast of ice, and pain in his chest.

That, however, was not without overwhelming fan support and the feeling of being a hero, after making a crucial save in time added to help his team preserve their 1-0 lead and beat visiting Arnett Gardens in the final game of the Digicel Premier League's second round.

The win, the home side's fourth in a row, capped off a round that brought them to a respectable 25 points and ninth place.

Hope ruined

However, it cruelly ruined the Junglists' hope of copping a place in the end-of-round final for the first time in years.

With 17 points and joint second with Sporting Central Academy in the race to join Portmore United, the Junglists were dealt a serious setback from as early as the third minute when Kimroy Davis scored a 20-yard free kick.

They were not helped by Sawyers' superb performance throughout, leaping high when it mattered even though on three occasions his fall to the ground - with the ball safely parried or tucked to his grasp - required on-the-field medical attention.

Frustrating

This was frustrating for the visitors, who had the momentum in the last half hour when Newton Sterling and Ricardo Stern were introduced. It might also explain why referee Wilverton Lamey played eight minutes of added time - a period in which Arnett came mightily close to levelling the game.

While Stern's pace down the flanks pulled the home defenders apart, Sterling's imposing presence at the top of the box and his ability to muscle his way into positions to shoot or head, forced his marker, Kirk Duckworth, to resort to almost judo-like tactics to stop him.

Duckworth tried it one time too often and gifted Arnett a shot on the edge of the 18-yard box that would serve as the last pivotal moment of the game. Literally everyone in the venue paused for the heart-stopping moment. Even the wall of players mounted seemed rattled. However, once Sterling let fly a cracker, the next sound was the ball unbelievably cannoning off Sawyers' chest.

With most on the field stunned, the lucky escape was not over until a quick-thinking Ricardo Smith of Arnett flicked the rebound goalwards, only for Sawyers to save the day one last time; his parried effort striking the upright and the ball miraculously falling away safely behind the goal.

Referee Lamey's belated final whistle promptly ended any more drama.