ST RICHARD’S and Pembroke Hall will contest the final of the 2018 IDEAL Finance Corporation Limited-sponsored Kingston and St Andrew Primary Schools Sports Association (KSAPSSA) football competition after semi-final wins at St Richard’s playing field on Thursday.

The final is scheduled to be played at Melrose Primary School playing field on Thursday beginning at 1:00 pm. The third-place play-off will be contested between losing semi-finalists Maxfield Park and Windward Road at 12 noon.

St Richard’s, who lost in the final last year to defending champions Central Branch Primary, defeated Maxfield Park 3-1 through a hat-trick from Justine Johnson, who scored his goals in the sixth, 15th and 39th minutes.

Interestingly, St Richard’s had knocked out Central Branch 4-1 in their quarter-final encounter played at Melrose Primary School last Tuesday.

Pembroke Hall Primary tagged Windward Road Primary 3-0 with goals from Karri Noel, Dontay Cotterell and Delaney White. In their quarter-finals Pembroke Hall defeated Swallowfield 3-0 last Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Byron McLeod, coach of St Richard’s, said the team should have won by a much wider margin from the many scoring chances they created. “The players were hampered from the pouring rain that caused the ground to become slippery in the second half, making goals hard to score.”

“It should however, be a good final with Pembroke Hall and St Richard’s, as I think they are two of the best teams in the competition. We have only played them in a practice match before the start of the competition and drew 1-1,” McLeod said.

He said he has seen Pembroke Hall play and they are looking good, but said he is confident that his team, St Richard’s will come out winners.

Also of note is the fact that St Richard’s and Pembroke Hall are now the only two unbeaten teams remaining in the competition leading up to the final.

Coach of Pembroke Hall Bjorn Folkes said after leading 3-0 in the first half his team got a bit complacent and played too much on the defensive in the second half to avoid conceding a goal.

“The defensive play by the team allowed our opponents to play much better by producing a number of attacks but they denied scoring opportunities as the defenders stood up well under pressure,” Folkes said.

He said the final should be a good game against St Richard’s as both teams have not played against each other since the past three years. “Last year Pembroke Hall did not enter the competition but played the previous year.”

“The winner could be decided by the team that wants it most, or the defence that can stand up strongly throughout and sustain the pressure from attacks from opposing strikers,” he added.