Good wins for Rusea's and St James

By Adrian Frater, News Editor
Western Bureau:

Rusea's and St. James High School kept themselves on course for a place in the quarter-final round of the 2007 ISSA/Pepsi/Digicel daCosta Cup yesterday afternoon when they both emerged victorious from their second round Group Two fixture against Petersfield and Cedric Titus respectively.

The Rusea's team, which drew their first round game 3-3 with Cedric Titus, defeated Petersfield 2-1 at the St. Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS) ground courtesy of goals by top striker Roydel Moncrieffe and the consistent Ricardo Brown.

Hard-fought win

St. James High, which drew their first round game with Petersfield 2-2 on Saturday, scored a hard-fought 1-0 win over Cedric Titus at the Elletson Wakeland Youth Centre in Falmouth. Hussain Chapman got the lone goal of the game.

With Rusea's and St. James now locked atop the group standings on four points each, Saturday's third round clash between the teams at Jarrett Park promises to be an epic clash as the victorious team will top the zone and gain automatic qualification to the quarter-final.

Looking back at his team's win against Petersfield, Rusea's coach Anthony 'Follies' Williams was somewhat relieved as, according to him, his team has been playing well but not winning since making the Ben Francis KO final.

"We are happy for this victory because we failed to win the last two games," said Williams. "We are hoping that we will carry this form over to the game against St. James High on Saturday."

Sigh of relief

In their game in Falmouth, the St. James team should also be breathing a sigh of relief as while they managed to put away one of the chances they created, Cedric Titus were woefully off target, hitting the cross bar twice but failing to score.

"It was quite a good game, but we are happy for the win as it keeps us in contention for the quarter-final," said Pastor Hugh Solomon, the coach of the St. James High team. "We are hoping that come Saturday we will be a lot sharper before the goal against Rusea's."

St. James High's lone goal came in the 33rd minute when Cedric Titus' goalkeeper blocked a shot into the path of the unmarked Chapman and he calmly slotted home, making the score 1-0.