Pamenos Ballantyne of St Vincent and the Grenadines (right) and 40 year-old Russian, Ramilia Burangulova, with their trophies after winning their respective sections of the inaugural Reggae Marathon in Negril yesterday. Story on Page 53. (Photo: Michael Gordon)

MANNING and Walker Cup champions, Bridgeport High, shocked Cornwall College and their supporters with a come-from-behind 3-2 win in the first leg of the all-island Olivier Shield final at Jarrett Park yesterday.

Garrick Gordon and Deshaun Woolery scored for Cornwall while Kemar Petrekin and Dean Thompson (two) scored for Bridgeport.

In a game which started out as one-sided affair with Cornwall looking the better team, the Montego Bay school gave up three second-half goals and lost in the dying moments.

The first half saw Cornwall winning all of 15 corner kicks compared to Bridgeport's one.

Bridgeport's victory, however, was mainly fashioned by the heroics of goalkeeper, Maurice Evans, who saved his team on several occasions.

His counterpart, Richard McCallum, the national under-17 'keeper, was not as efficient and this cost the daCosta Cup champions dearly.

Cornwall's dominance in the first half saw Gordon scoring on the stroke of half-time to take a 1-0 lead.

The losers started the second half in like manner but Maurice Evans' alertness kept them at bay. In the 62nd minute, Cornwall gave up a penalty and Kemar Petrekin scored the equaliser.

With that goal, the tide turned and Bridgeport displayed the kind of football which made them Manning Cup winners.

Their resurgence, however, was short-lived. Deshaun Woolery, after a few slick one-two passes with substitute, Orlando Coleman, sent Cornwall into the lead once again with a powerful left-footed shot.

Still having the better of play, Cornwall should have placed the game out of Bridgeport's reach.

A Kirkland Smith diagonal pass found Gordon, who had only the 'keeper to beat. But instead, he kicked high.Three minutes before time, Bridgeport equalised through a laps by the Cornwall 'keeper. Kemar Peterkin's tame shot from 30 yards bounced off the crossbar and Dean Thompson headed home.

On the stroke of full-time, McCallum's lacklustre approach to collect saw Mark Newsome challenging. His effort paid off as the former failed to collect and Dean Thompson scored the clincher.

An elated Anthony Patrick said: "The win was not the best ... nevertheless we came out victorious."

Patrick said that after Bridgeport's disastrous first half he had a strong talk with the players at the interval and he was proud of the way they played in the second half.

For the second leg, he said, "Harbour View is our happy hunting ground. We went there on two occasions and won two titles, so I will do it there. The plan will be to attack them from the first whistle." According to Patrick, if his team can play the way they played in the second half yesterday, on Thursday it will be curtains for Cornwall in Kingston.

"This is our first time and we want this title so bad. Cornwall will have to come good to take the Olivier Shield from us," he said confidently.

Losing coach, Dr Dean Weatherly, who still seems confident, noted that, "When you are given so many chances and you don't convert, this result is likely to happen.

"The boys lost their concentration and the team fell apart. I think we should have been four goals up from the first half. We did not capitalise on our chances, hence we paid the price.

"We played around too much with Bridgeport who stuck to their task and we congratulate them on that," Weatherly said.

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