Brown’s Town High let slip the chance to consolidate their position at the top of the standings of Zone I when they were held to a 0-0 draw by Marcus Garvey Technical in the ISSA/Wata DaCosta Cup match at Drax Hall on Wednesday.

Oracabessa High beat York Castle High 2-1 to go top of the zone with 19 points, while Brown’s Town fall second on 17. Ocho Rios High are third on 16 and Marcus Garvey fourth on 13 with one round of matches to be played.

It took Brown’s Town all of 20 minutes to carve out a real opening when Dwight Vernon skipped the challenge of one defender and rounded another, before firing a shot on target, but goalkeeper Rojeal McDougal made a diving save to his right.

Brown’s Town were almost caught out when Akeem Watkis fired off a snap shot from about 30 yards that went just over the crossbar with Romain Daley rooted to the spot and watching helplessly as the ball soared past.

The diminutive and wily Shanjay Hinds was a constant threat for Brown’s Town and had the fans on their feet when he cut inside from the left flank, but his shot went just wide of the post.

McCalla should have given Brown,s Town the lead when McDougal spilled a regulation pick-up inside the box but instead of taking his time to pick a spot and place the ball into the unguarded net, he fired across the face of goal to no one in particular.

The second half was also dominated by Brown’s Town but the shot-shy strikers failed to make their possession count.

Amal Reid waltzed past two defenders on the byline but his shot from an acute angle ricocheted off the custodian and back onto him before going behind for a goal kick.

A beautiful chest control by Hinds on the left was followed by a curling shot with the outside of the right boot, but the ball went agonisingly wide of the far post.

A direct free kick from Reid was easily held by McDougal before a big controversial moment at the end of the game. A defender appeared to foul Reid on the edge of the goal area but the referee waved away the vociferous Brown’s Town appeals.

— Dwayne Richards