LIONEL TOWN, Clarendon — New Bowens FC are mid-season champions of the Clarendon Football Association/Captain’s Bakery Major League after Leon Callaghan’s extra-time strike carried them to a 1-0 win over Milk River United in the final at the Monymusk Sports Club on Thursday evening.

The victory must have been extra sweet for New Bowens, whose only defeat in the competition thus far was to Milk River — a 4-0 flogging in the first round.

They will now pocket $40,000 for their effort and coach Joseph Gunter was happy to have turned the tables on their title-chasing rivals.

“They beat us in the first round, but we know coming into this game if we just stick to our game plan and maintain that discipline, we would be victorious,” he said.

“We are still three points behind them, so the way forward now is to continue the rigid training programme for the rest of the season and hopefully we will become champions and go onto the Confed,” Gunter added.

As for Milk River — they were facing defeat for the first time this season after chalking up nine victories and two draws in the first round.

And losing to a team that they beat comprehensively in the first round — it must have been a bitter pill to swallow. They, however, continue to lead Bowens by three points in the 12-team league.

In a game that lacked the intensity of a final, both teams wasted numerous chances to break the deadlock during regulation and the first period of extra-time with the goalkeepers proving to be the standouts of the game.

It took Bowens only three minutes into the second period of extra-time to find the winner.

Callaghan, a former Garvey Maceo daCosta Cup standout of 2002, kept his nerves under pressure in the six-yard box to finish off a neat chip pass from Davion Mitchell in the 108th minute of play.