LYNCH PARK, Buff Bay — St Thomas Technical rallied from a two-goal, first-half deficit to hold Port Antonio High to a 2-2 result at Lynch Park, Buff Bay, in Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA) daCosta Cup action on Saturday.

Kerron Holgate, in the third and 44th minutes for Port Antonio, and St Thomas’s Demani Gordon in the 53rd and Novar Henry in the 56th minutes, were the goalscorers.

The first half was dominated by Port Antonio as their attack was led by Deshawn Bentley, Holgate, Antwane Wilson, and Ashanni Higgins, while St Thomas countered through Devaughn Davis, Rackiel Hudson, Rasean Grant, and Nigel Jennings.

Port Antonio took the lead from a counter-attack after a St Thomas corner was cleared by Oneil Pryce to Holgate just inside his half and he sped away from the field to beat custodian Rajae Irving.

Just before the half ended Holgate extended the lead when he received the ball from Wilson to tap into an open goal from close range.

The second half saw a rejuvenated St Thomas Technical as Gordon pulled one back from a goal mouth melee. Shortly after, Henry’s effort was too much for Port Antonio custodian Darel Gordon to handle, pulling his team level.

St Thomas’s coach Kevin Blackwood was pleased. “We came here late and we got off to a slow start and that contributed to us going down two goals in the first half. My instructions at the break were to relax and pass the ball around, and that was done and we got the results. We got into the game into the second half and they followed the instructions.”

Port Antonio’s Marlon Hylton was pleased with his young team. “It is important that we came out of this game with a positive result, that is a draw. These boys have been out of football for almost two years and we didn’t get the desired result that we wanted, but we will bounce back. This team is pretty young and inexperienced, but we will push on.”

— Everard Owen