Malaria puts Shield second leg on hold

Kwesi Mugisa, Staff Reporter

The threat posed by the malaria outbreak may see Manning Cup champions Bridgeport and daCosta Cup winners Glenmuir sharing the title after a 1-1 first leg tie at the Spanish Town Prison Oval yesterday.

The second leg of the tie which was scheduled to be played this Saturday at Brancourt, has now been postponed indefinitely due to the threat of the disease.

Although there has been no official decision reached as yet by ISSA, who will convene soon to discuss the issue, they will be strapped for time to find a replay date for the fixture, at least for this year.

"We have not been officially advised, but I saw a copy of a correspondence coming out of the JFF and that is where things stand right now. said president of ISSA Clement Radcliffe. "The game has been called off and we have to await two things. Some indication of when it is safe to restart and a meeting of our association."

The situation is a sore one for the association which had decided to put more emphasis, inclusive of a bigger payoff, on the often low-keyed Olivier Shield.

"This is a significant disruption ... we tried to market the Olivier Shield for interest, we were satisfied with the crowd support today and Saturday would have been good as well." Radcliffe said.

Started well

In yesterday's game, Bridgeport had to come from a goal behind to secure the tie with Glenmuir. John Ross Doyley put the visitors ahead against the run of play, when poorly marked in front of goal, he held his nerve to place the ball wide of Bridgeport custodian Carlloyd Walters for a 10th minute lead.

Theophilus Samuels once again proved to be a hero for the St Catherine team, when he netted his fourth goal in three games with a 46th minute equaliser.

"We started well, but we became indisciplined and everybody wanted to carry the ball in the attacking third instead of finding the passes." bemoaned Bridgeport coach Anthony Patrick.

Glenmuir coach Patrick 'Jackie' Walters who would have seen his team with the advantage playing at home this weekend, his disappointment was directed more toward the postponement of his home game.

"We were really looking forward to the second leg, but such is life, what would have been interesting is how they would have held up at Brancourt." he said. "They had a long layoff and their physical conditioning was not what it would be, we would have been operating at maximum capacity on Saturday afternoon."