XLCR, Wolmer’s to meet in ‘Colts’ final
DEFENDING champions Excelsior High and Wolmer’s Boys will meet for the ISSA/Busta Under-16 football
title after scoring semi-final victories over Calabar and Kingston College, respectively, at Constant Spring yesterday.
Excelsior turned back Calabar 2-1 with goals from Kevin Blackwood and Romario Atkinson, while Wolmer’s defeated Kingston College on a Jason Wright’s second-half strike.
In the opening game, both teams had chances to go ahead, but it was Blackwood who fired the Leebert Halliman-coached Excelsior into the lead after 34 minutes.
Excelsior extended their lead early in the second-half, as Atkinson netted after just two minutes following
the restart.
But Calabar pulled a goal back through Javon East, who rifled a shot off the crossbar and into the goal in the 68th minute.
Coach Halliman said his team came into the match as underdogs, but did what they had to do.
“As the defending champion, we gave it our best and we were successful… now we only hope to take it one step further,” he said.
In the feature game, Kingston College came the closest to taking the lead in the first half when Kemario Osbourne’s curling shot from outside the box hit the crossbar and rebounded into play.
However, in the second half Wolmer’s coach Michael Francis switched national Under-17 representative, Wright, who was largely influential in midfield, to forward and the move paid dividends after only 12 minutes.
The move started when Fabian Williams controlled a ball from the left inside the area, but his shot deflected into the path of the Manning Cup standout, Wright, who fired an unstoppable shot past the Kingston College custodian.
Williams had a great opportunity to add another goal afterwards, but he put the ball wide from six yards with only the goalkeeper to beat.
Osbourne almost found the equaliser for Kingston College in the 71st minute, but his overhead kick bounced in
front of an empty goal and over the horizontal.
Winning coach, Francis, said his team played to their game plan. “We played in patches, but our plan was to use the flanks and that’s we did and got what we wanted,” he said.
