Flanker FC made it third time lucky after they clipped Reggae Youths 1-0 in the final of the St James Football Association/Sandals Resorts International Major League final at the Montego Bay Sports Complex on Sunday, ending the season unbeaten.

A first-half goal from Kenou Gram was the difference between the teams in a close contest that saw both teams miss good scoring chances.

Flankers FC, who were playing in their third-straight final, losing to Granville United last season and Reggae Youths the season before, will now prepare for the Jamaica Football Federation Championships play-offs and Coach Omar Christie is aware of the task ahead of them.

“I think we deserved to win today, this was our third-consecutive final and we deserve to win,” he told the Jamaica Observer after the game.

Christie said after last year’s loss, on penalties to Granville United, “we made some changes, this is a brand new coaching staff and the chemistry is amazing, we also worked on the team chemistry as well and as you can see it all paid.”

After topping their zone in the first round, then getting the better of a resilient Lilliput Rovers 4-2 on aggregate in the semi-finals, Christie said they had to be better for the play-offs.

“We cannot stop working now, the work will continue…we have to go back to the drawing board and get ourselves even more sharper than how we are now.”

Loren Sailsman, the coach of the Reggae Youths team, said while the game and results were both tough, he thought the better prepared team won.

“It was not that the final was bad,” he told the Observer, “It was a game where the chances were limited and Flankers FC got their chance and took it. We got one or two good chances but we could not capitalise but a overall, the game was a good one.”

He also said Flankers FC’s better physical condition was also a factor, “they were better in terms of their fitness, and they caught us out sometimes on the back foot but the result is all right for me, because guess what, they are the better team going forward.”

The decisive moment came just before the end of the first half when Theo Shaw got the better of a Reggae Youths defender on the right wing, got past him and found Gram with a pinpoint cross that he used his chest to put across the line beating goalkeeper Raion Bernard to his right.

Reggae Youths threw everything into attack in the second half and despite creating some good chances found the Flanker FC defence and golden glove winner Roger Moore had to beat.

— Paul A Reid