IT took an 85th-minute penalty from Lenworth Beckford to give Calabar High a 1-0 win against plucky St Catherine High at Red Hills Road yesterday.

The narrow win by Calabar, following a gallant come-from-behind 2-2 draw against Jamaica College in the opening game last Saturday, was no joy for coach Bradley Stewart, as Calabar showed none of the pluck that earned for them a point on last.

“Hard, difficult game,” was Stewart’s summing up of what could have been a debacle for the boys from Red Hills Road. And there were good reasons for his assessment as had St Catherine taken the chances that fell to them in both halves, it could have been another tale told.

While it is true that Calabar got chances to score, none was as clear-cut as those that fell to St Catherine, whose goalkeeper Joel Simpson was a safe pair of hands between the upright to nullify Calabar’s attempts, especially two from striker Chivali Edwards.

And it was the industry of Edwards, who eventually threw the lifeline to his team when brought down in the area by St Catherine’s second-half substitute Shequann Brown.

Jermaine Miller, the replacement for Anthony Patrick, who has moved to Dinthill, said: “Despite the loss it was an encouraging game for the boys, who did very well. From the promise they showed we are on the right track to improve our goalscoring as the season deepens. We created numerous chances, played a decent game, but failed to finish. But with time I believe we will be much better.”