MONTEGO BAY, St James — Maldon High Coach Dillon Thelwell said it was “two points lost” for his team after the 1-1 result against Brown’s Town High in the opening Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association/Wata daCosta Cup Group 4 game at Jarrett Park on Wednesday.

Maldon took the lead in the ninth minute when Kevin Hawthorne fired past Brown’s Town High’s goalkeeper Devonte Jones. But Duyte Barnett levelled the scores when he curled a ball into the Maldon goal in the 50th minute.

Thelwell, who was taking Maldon into the second round for the first time, rued their inability to maintain pressure on their opponents after taking the early lead.

“I think based on how we applied ourselves, we applied ourselves good in the first [few] minutes. And then after we scored, I think we dropped our standard, allowed the next team to get back in the game, build their confidence and get back one goal,” he explained.

“[It is a] learning curve for us again in this round, it’s new to us and players must understand that in this round you want to finish off games, and I think we just got to walk them through see how best you can fix that for the next game,” he added.

Brown’s Town Coach Tyrone Codner said he was ultimately satisfied with a share of the spoils.

“Based on the balance of play, I’d say we take the one point,” he said.

Codner told the Jamaica Observer that after going down in the first half, the players responded well to grab the equaliser early in the second period.

“Some might say the Maldon team, possibly, is one of the weaker teams in a group, but football is played on the day and on the balance of play, I think this game could have gone either way. We’ll take the one point and we’ll go back home, do some work and prepare for [the next match on] Saturday,” he said.

The Brown’s Town coach said he was pleased with how the season has progressed so far. “It’s been a good season so far… I’m satisfied with what is happening. It’s a really inexperienced squad — we have just five experienced players — but the majority are players who are playing for the first time, so we continue to work with them a lot,” Codner explained.

After Saturday’s dramatic finish in which Maldon High scored with the final kick of the game to earn a 1-1 draw against Green Pond High to make their maiden appearance in second round, expectations were high.

They started well and were rewarded early when Javaughn Anglin, a national junior representative, chased a ball wide on the left wing, dribbled upfield and delivered a cross that was partially cleared by the Browns Town defence. The ball fell to Hawthorne who fired it back past Jones.

Maldon High’s goalkeeper Nickel Stewart, who missed Saturday’s game on account of his religion, pulled off a brilliant double save in the 43rd minute to keep his team in the game.

Barnett first dribbled through the Maldon defence but his effort was blocked by Stewart who moved sharply to his left. The rebound fell to Barnett on the half volley, but his follow-up shot was thwarted by the custodian.

Hawthorne later missed doubling the advantage for Maldon when his header came back off the cross bar.

Browns Town came back into the game early in the second half when Dysean Campbell found Barnett just outside the Maldon 18-yard box. His curling effort found the far corner of the goal.

WEDNESDAY’S RESULTS

Maldon 1, Brown’s Town 1

Ocho Rios 0, Black River 0

Christiana 0, Garvey Maceo 1

Happy Grove 3, Holmwood 2

Manning’s 0, Manchester 1

STETHS 2, William Knibb 0

Paul Bogle 3, Titchfield 0

Cornwall 1, Kemps Hill 1

McGrath 8, St Mary High 1

THURSDAY’S GAME

Frome vs Cedric Titus @ Llandilo Community Centre