MORANT BAY, St Thomas — CEO of the Captain’s Bakery and Grill Captain Horace Burrell has vowed his company’s continued support of St Thomas football after being impressed by the way the Major League tournament was run.

Speaking following the final between Lyssons and Sandstar at the York Oval on Saturday, Burrell underlined the exemplary disciplinary record throughout the season. Also, he recognised the role the league is playing in building “stronger” communities.

“I believe the competition was played in high spirits… the togetherness that the tournament brings to the community is certainly a pleasing sight, and so encouraged I am that we will continue to support the St Thomas FA with our sponsorship,” he said.

“Strong individuals build strong communities and strong communities build a strong nation, therefore we at the Captain’s Bakery are pleased to be able to play our part in this process,” he added.

Burrell, who heads the Jamaica Football Federation, heaped praise on both finalists “for a job well done”.

“I would also like to congratulate the winners, Lyssons, on a well-fought final. Also, I would like to congratulate Sandstar who came and gave their best under the circumstances where they recently lost a teammate to gun violence,” said the CONCACAF Executive Committee member.

Champions Lyssons successfully defended their title with a 5-4 penalty shoot-out win over Sandstar after both teams were locked at 1-1 after regulation and extra time.

Fitzroy McCalla had given Lyssons the lead in the 67th minute, but Damion Chisholm rallied from the penalty spot in the 76th to get Sandstar back in a dreary affair.

“Today’s (Saturday’s) game was not as attractive as I would have liked to see, but you can understand that both teams were on a mission to win the competition, so that’s why I suspect we didn’t see the flair that you would see in another game,” noted president of the St Thomas FA, Wayne Thompson.

He said, however, that he was pleased that many of the pre-tournament objectives were met, particularly the efforts to reinforce discipline at all levels of the parish’s football structure.

“I am very happy based on the objectives we have set out prior to the start of the competition… and one of that is to have completed the competition on time and we were able to do that.

“We were also able to stay on top of a number of disciplinary issues by dealing with them very early, so I must thank the executive and Mr Lascelles Logan who was responsible for executing all disciplinary matters as that was one of the break downs in the system,” said Thompson, who last year got the

voting nod over long-serving president Alfred Pennant.

He also thanked the fans and the sponsors Captain’s Bakery for their unwavering support.

“I am also satisfied with the crowd support as they really turned out to support their teams, plus I want to thank the Captain’s Bakery for their continued support,” Thomspon said.