Carmel edge Queen’s College in controversial encounter
… losers to file protest

THE CONTROVERSIAL bug which raised its head at the Ministry of Education ground last Saturday, during the playing of the male Scotiabank/Pepsi final, did so once again at the same venue yesterday afternoon during the second half of this year’s fourth annual Digicel Inter-Secondary School Football Championships encounter between Carmel Secondary and Queen’s College, which the former won 2-1.

The two sides were meeting in an exciting Georgetown zone fixture, which saw Carmel take a 2-0 lead at halftime, until five minutes into the second half, when it was brought to the referee’s attention by the Queen’s College (QC) coach Michael Daly, that his opponents had 12 players on the field.
Upon checking the starting list, the 12th player, who was later given a red card out of the contest, was not among the starting 11 and even thwarted QC’s attempt to score goals during the first half while playing in the defensive position.
At this stage, Daly questioned the legality of the two goals scored against his side, which the referee allowed but informed him that he has the right to file an appeal to the Coordinators, following which he (Daly) said he will be doing as soon as possible.
Prior to this, QC started on a positive note, when Tevin Curry made a spirited run to Carmel’s goal following a faulty clearance from their defence, but his shot went high over the crossbar in the fourth minute of the game.
At the other end of the field, Marlon Allen, who was working overtime to get an opening goal, saw one of his advances being checked by QC’s defensive wall that included Curry, Samuel Desir, Stephan Hussain and Romel Smith.
However, from a botched kick taken by QC custodian Isaiah Hope, Carmel, through the efforts of Marlon Allen, got their opening goal in the 14th minute, as he rounded an advancing Hope and calmly placed the ball into the open goal.
Aftab Crandon, who plies his trade for Georgetown Football Club, was thrown into the action by Daly and immediately made an impact when he collected a gem of a pass from Jayadev Mana, but saw his shot miss the opposition goal by inches, with Christian Benjamin their custodian well beaten.
Six minutes after Allen got the opening goal for Carmel, his namesake Caleb Allen made it 2-0, when he beat Hope with a long range shot from QC’s midfield, following another miserable goal kick, as QC struggled to come to grips.
A poor shot from Nathan Patterson in the latter stages of the first half, denied QC the chance of reducing their opponent’s lead in half, as Benjamin affected the save with the greatest of ease, to ensure his team kept their 2-0 lead at lemon-time.
After the confusion which erupted within the first five minutes of the second half, play resumed with QC going on the attack and saw Crandon given a gem of a pass from Joel Richards, but his shot was a feeble one that trickled away to the left of the uprights, much to the relief of an already beaten Benjamin.
As they fought to find an opening goal, they got one when Caleb Allen brought down the hardworking Patterson in the box in the 55th minute, leaving the referee no choice but to issue him with a red card while pointing to the penalty spot.
In true Gladiator fashion, Patterson got up and took the kick which he scored to reduce the deficit and also give his team renewed hope, which he later dashed in the dying minutes of the contest, when they were awarded another penalty for a handled ball in the box, the ensuing kick he sent over the bar.
Prior to that, Mana also had a well directed free kick from the top of the box which was awarded after the linesman ruled that Benjamin handled the ball out of his protective area, deflected for a corner, as QC went in search of the equalising goal, that did not materialise at full time.

HAT-TRICK
Meanwhile, across at the Police Sports Club, Eve Leary ground, North Ruimveldt Multilateral through a Jeremy Garrett hat-trick that was scored in the 18th 31st and 42nd minutes and solitary strikes from Tyrese Rowley (11th), Carl Griffith (48th) and Shamar McPherson (70th), defeated Sophia Training Centre 6-1, with Serine Daniels scoring for the losers in the 57th minute.
The action will continue today from 15:30hrs with several matches across the country, with the most important one being the first Regional final of this year’s tournament between three-time champions of Region 10 and two-time defending champions Christianburg/Wismar Secondary School, who face Mackenzie High School at the Wisburg ground.

(By Calvin Roberts)