Seaforth, St Bess into JFF Championship semis
SEAFORTH SC and St Bess United qualified for the semi-finals of the Jamaica Football Federation Championship play-offs after Sunday’s penultimate round of matches.
Seaforth SC topped Group A on goal difference via a 1-1 draw with Marcus Garvey United while St Bess United topped Group C, beating Cross United 3-1.
The other two spots will be decided after this Sunday’s final round of matches in the competition that will see three teams qualifying for the championships (formerly Tier II) competition set to start later in the season.
Seaforth SC and Marcus Garvey United had finished tied on four points from their three games against each other, each team winning once and with Sunday’s game ending in a draw.
Seaforth SC, who had won their home game 3-1 then lost 1-0, held a slight advantage with a +1 goal difference to Marcus Garvey United’s -1.
St Bess United’s win saw them improve to 10 points as they completed their schedule of games, and cannot be caught by Cross United (three points) or Villa United (one point).
Gray’s Inn SC and Petersfield FC have taken control in their respective Group B and Group D with big wins on Sunday.
Gray’s Inn took over the lead in Group B after a 5-0 thrashing of Madras FC, with Rasheed Dennis scoring a hat-trick.
The win took them to seven points, one more than WiFi United SC who they will play on Sunday.
Petersfield FC took over the lead in Group D after handing Duanvale United their first loss, 4-0 in their return-round game on Sunday, and improved to 11 points — one more than the Trelawny club.
Petersfield FC were awarded full points from their aborted game against Sandy Bay and a 3-0 margin. Petersfield FC were leading 2-0 early in the second half when the referee sent off four members of the Sandy Bay team and the others walked off.
In another game on Sunday, Reggae Youths edged Sandy Bay United 1-0 thanks to a 35th-minute goal from Oliseh Haye.