GREENWHICH Primary registered a narrow 1-0 penalty shoot-out victory over Windward Road Primary in the final of the inaugural staging of the Kingston and St Andrew Primary Schools Sports Association (KSAPSSA) Six-a-Side Football Rally at the Melrose Primary School playfield recently.

Nadjae Brown from Greenwich Primary scored the lone goal with the first kick of the shoot-out. She was also voted the Most Valuable Player in the final.

Windward Road’s first penalty was kicked wide of its target, while Greenwich Primary failed to score their second effort, so tooWindward Road, with both attempts at goal going wide.

Greenwich Primary missed their third penalty that could have sealed the match as they gave Windward Road a final opportunity to level the scores. However, the shot went wide giving Greenwich victory.

Both schools had played to a 0-0 draw at full time in the 15-minute encounter.

Meanwhile, in the semi-finals, Greenwich Primary tagged Jones Town Primary 2-0 in a penalty shoot-out after both teams had played to a goalless draw in regulation time. For their part, Windward Road Primary beat St Richard’s Primary 3-2 in sudden penalties after playing to a goalless draw.

Meanwhile, St Richard’s Primary clipped Jones Town 1-0 to win the third-place match.

The other participating teams were Melrose Primary, Constant Spring Primary, St Benedict’s Primary, Maxfield Park Primary and Mico Practising.

Coach of Greenwich Primary, Chad Wint, said the experience for the girls was priceless.

“It was a very good experience for the girls, and when they graduate to high schools they would have already know how to play football,” he said.

Windward Road coach Curtis McKenzie said his girls were happy to have a competition dedicated to their sex and age group.

“The girls wanted their own competition similarly as the boys as playing two girls on a boys team does not show the true reflection of their talents, as the boys are more physical than the girls,” he noted.

Derrick Brown, the president of KSAPSSA, said while the first staging was exciting, there were clear areas which require improvements.

“The only drawback was that the goals were too small… this is just the start as only nine schools participated, but we are expecting to have the involvement of more schools this year around September,” he said.

–— GERALD REID