St James, Glenmuir lead Inter-zone charge

Sunday, November 22, 2009 12:18 AM

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BY PAUL A REID Observer writer

Wednesday, November 04, 2009

PORT ANTONIO, Portland - With the Ben Francis Knock-Out trophy safely tucked away in May Pen, Glenmuir High will turn their attention to adding the daCosta Cup to their collection as the Inter-zone round of the ISSA/Pepsi/Digicel rural area schoolboy competition gets under way this afternoon with 12 matches in the six groups.

The top two teams from each of the 12 first-round zones qualify for the Inter-zone round, from which the six group winners and next best second-placed teams advance to the quarter-finals.

There should be a familiarity with the match-ups in this group as there is little change in the teams that advanced to this round last year and five of the 12 games today are repeats of last year's match-ups.

Today, Ben Francis Cup champions Glenmuir and defending champions St James will be on the road where they lost at this stage last season.

Glenmuir, who have won their last seven games, including last Saturday's 3-0 victory over Munro College in the final of the Ben Francis KO at STETHS, will face Port Antonio at Carder Park, but another Zone L team, Paul Bogle High, beat them at York Oval in their opening Inter-zone game last year and they will be mindful of this.

Glenmuir have conceded just one goal in their last three matches and according to coach Patrick 'Jackie' Walters, his young charges are coming together nicely at the right time.

St James were surprised by Frome Technical at Frome last year and while they did avenge that defeat later in the quarter-finals, will hope to avoid consecutive losses for the first time since 2006.

On paper, St James should have no problems beating Frome after dispatching Zone B winners Rusea's, 6-1, in the quarter-finals of the Ben Francis KO.

Among the other repeat encounters from last season are Grange Hill versus Marcus Garvey at Drax Hall, Spalding versus Bellefield at Kirkvine, Lennon versus STETHS at Jamalco and Cornwall College versus Rusea's High at Jarrett Park.

Grange Hill and Lennon are hoping to repeat their victories from last year, where Grange Hill beat Marcus Garvey 2-0 and Lennon edged STETHS 2-1.

Both Spalding versus Lennon and Cornwall versus Rusea's ended in goal-less draws, but it would be a major surprise if the Jarrett Park game today ends without a goal.

Rusea's have returned just one player from last year's team - captain and central defender Wonnique Pinnock, who missed the big defeat against St James and will turn out for his school today.

Both are coming off losses to St James, but based on their respective records this season, Cornwall will start favourites.

Beaten Ben Francis KO finalists Munro will travel to Jamalco to face former champions Clarendon College, and if they can shake off their recent disappointment, should start with a win.

Garvey Maceo, the 2007 champions, looked set to miss their second straight Inter-zone round until Old Harbour were kicked out of the competition last week, and could make a run to the semi-finals.

Today, however, they have a tricky opener against the impressive Paul Bogle at York Oval.

Garvey Maceo's coach Jeffrey Hewitt had cautioned earlier in the week that the lay-off could affect his team's match fitness and that they cannot not take any team for granted.

Paul Bogle, who won Zone L and were beaten 1-0 by Glenmuir in the Ben Francis KO semi-finals, will be looking to start the Inter-zone round with a win.

Today's schedule:

Manning's vs William Knibb @ Frome Sports Club 1:00 pm

Frome Tech vs St James @ Frome Sports Club 3:00 pm

Marcus Garvey Tech vs Grange Hill @ Drax Hall 3:00 pm

Edwin Allen vs Manchester @ Kirkvine Sports Club 1:00 pm

Spalding vs Bellefield @ Kirkvine Sports Club 3:00 pm

Lennon vs STETHS @ Jamalco 1:00 pm

Clarendon College vs Munro College @ Jamalco 3:00 pm

St Mary Tech vs Dinthill @ Grays Inn 1:00 pm

Annotto Bay vs Bog Walk @ Grays Inn 3:00 pm

Paul Bogle vs Garvey Maceo @ York Oval 3:00 pm

Cornwall College vs Rusea's @ Jarrett Park 3:00 pm

Port Antonio vs Glenmuir @ Carder Park 3:00 pm

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