Irwin net ‘ugly win’ over Cambridge

IRWIN High cruised past Cambridge High 2-0, securing their second straight victory in the ISSA daCosta Cup preliminary-round football match at Jarrett Park yesterday.

The deadlock was broken in the 22nd minute as Cavon Morris outjumped the defence to head home. Nathaniel Foster then doubled the lead in the 85th minute, calmly slotting home to seal the victory.

Victory moved Irwin atop Zone A on six points, while Cambridge slipped to fifth with just one point.

Irwin’s assistant coach, Jerron Townsend, characterised his team’s triumph as an “ugly win”.

“We didn’t play very well, as we are supposed to play. But an ugly win is better than a pretty loss,” said Townsend. “We started well and were getting chances, but I guess we weren’t capitalising on scoring goals.

“Cambridge came out at us in the second half because I think they thought they had a chance in the game. In the end, we got a goal from our talisman and it gave us three points,” he added.

Meanwhile, Cambridge’s assistant coach, Dane Isaacs, said the team attempted to utilise a mid-block and counter-press strategy, but they were unable to execute it consistently.

“It’s a very disappointing loss, especially how we conceded the goals. The plan was to always sit back in a mid-block and try to counter-press or hit them on the counter. We did that in parts, but we didn’t get a lot of it,” analysed Isaacs. “It wasn’t consistent enough.

“However, it was a good effort from our boys, and I have to give kudos to them on that,” he added.

Meanwhile, in high-scoring games, 11-time champions Rusea’s High remained perfect, thumping Petersfield High 6-0. The Hanover-based Rusea’s have now scored 14 goals in their first two matches.

In St Elizabeth, Black River High remained perfect as they registered a 5-1 win over deCarteret College to climb the standings in Zone D.

In Westmoreland, former Ben Francis Cup KO champions Frome Technical rallied from behind to secure an impressive 4-1 victory at home in their opening game.

The ISSA daCosta Cup resumes on Friday.

Yesterday’s Results

Frome 4 Knockalva 1

Rusea’s 6 Petersfield 0

Cambridge 0 Irwin 2

Edwin Allen 1 Holmwood Tech 1

Alphansus Davis 4 Troy High 0

Paul Bogle 1 Morant Bay 1

Happy Grove 3 Robert Lightbourne 0

Knox College 3 Claude McKay 0

York Castle 2 Cedric Titus 2

Black River 5 deCarteret 1

St. Mary 4 Wycliffe Martin 1

Munro 9 Belair 0