-Christ Church plays Dolphin for third place
DEFENDING champions St. George’s yesterday further underlined their intentions of not relinquishing their Milo sponsored Petra Organisation organised Under-20 Inter-Schools Football Championships, with a 3-0 victory over Christ Church Secondary at the Ministry of Education ground.This was after Lodge Secondary signalled their intentions of taking the title to their Meadow Brook Gardens based school, with their 3-1 semifinal win over Dolphin Secondary, thus setting up an exciting finale against St. George’s at the same venue this Saturday from 18:30hrs.

Playing in the first semifinal, Dolphin have only themselves to blame for the loss, as they failed to find the back of the net even when presented with clear cut opportunities to do so, while Lodge found it with the greatest of ease.
Orlando Gravesande, who got a brace for Lodge in the 16th and 50th minutes of play, gave his side a 1-0 advantage at lemon time, which Sherwin Smith increased five minutes into the second half, before Dolphin’s Leon Richardson missed a penalty kick, which would have made the game a one goal possession in favour of Lodge, had he scored.
However, the hard working Job Caesar pulled one back for Dolphin six minutes after Smith’s strike to make it 2-1,following which the game became a physical one as both sides battled for ascendancy in hazy conditions and in the presence of a vociferous crowd.
It was Lodge who underlined their status as champions of school football in Georgetown, following their exploits in last year’s Digicel nationwide Inter-secondary School tournament, when the burly looking Ryan Hackett sent a well directed free kick deep inside Dolphin’s penalty area.
An unmarked Gravesande, made sure the kick did not go to waste, as he collected same on the right hand side of the box and wasted no time in volleying home the shot, much to the delight of his teammates and their band of supporters off the field.
In the feature game, Christ Church, like Dolphin in the opening encounter wasted several goal scoring opportunities, even as St. George’s Orin Moore also struggled to find the net on several occasions, when presented with the golden opportunity by either Ozeal Small or the team’s dangerman in Adolph George.
Fortunately for St. George’s, Small broke the ice when he beat Christ Church’s custodian from midway inside the opposition half in the 19th minute to make it 1-0, a lead the defending champions held on to at the break.
On the resumption of play, Christ Church tried to nullify Small’s goal but found the hard working Orin Dublin too tough to penetrate, while St. George’s defensive line offered their custodian amicable support.
It was no surprise, when St. George’s got their second goal in the 57th minute after George found an unmarked Moore with a gem of a pass from the left side, which the striker calmly placed into the back of the net.
Despite leading 2-0, St. George’s technical staff refused to be complacent and wrung the changes around to suit his players on and off the field, with one of his substitutions in Marlon Duncan finding the back of the net off another cross from George in the 88th minute, a goal that knocked the wind out of Christ Church’s sails, leaving them to do battle with Dolphin for third place at 16:00hrs this Saturday.
By Calvin Roberts