By Paul A. Reid, Staff ReporterWESTERN BUREAU:
TITCHFIELD HIGH, last season's beaten finalists, started the new ISSA Pepsi/Sports Plus daCosta Cup season with a bang, blanking former eastern kingpins St. Thomas Technical 6-0 in their Zone L game yesterday.
Marvin Fagan led the effort with two goals while Masekelloa Cato, Denroy Dennis, Darrion Johnson and Tyrone Dale (from the penalty spot) all scored for the Andrew Edwards-coached team that led 2-0 at half-time.
A number of games were not played for reasons including rain, no show of officials and kit colours clashing. Holmwood Technical led Spalding 1-0 before thick fog forced that game to be called off.
This will cause some scheduling problems for the organisers after the competition started a week later than planned due to Hurricane Ivan which hit the island last weekend.
CONTRASTING STARTS
Meanwhile, former champions Cornwall College and Rusea's had contrasting starts as Cornwall had to come from behind at Jarrett Park to beat a game Anchovy High in Zone A, while Rusea's went down 3-1 to Grange Hill at home in Lucea after taking the lead in the first half. Janique Thomas scored two of Grange Hill's goals and Dervin Myles got the other.
At Jarrett Park, Cornwall College came from one goal down at half-time to beat Anchovy 2-1, with Andre Lee in the 50th and Omroy Whyte from the penalty spot in the 67th cancelling out Shavar Blake's well-taken 32nd minute goal.
Cornwall dominated the game in the early stages but despite keeping the ball in the Anchovy area for long periods, only got their first shot at goal in the 17th minute; Jahvon Russell's chip shot flying inches wide of the left post.
Charles Hines should have put Cornwall in the lead in the 30th minute when goalkeeper Lynval Jackson dropped the ball but the lanky Cornwall forward shot into the side netting.
The large Cornwall crowd was silenced two minutes later when Blake, easily the smallest player on the field, collected the ball on the right flank, about 35 yards out, and had time to rifle it across the goal into the far corner.
They should have doubled the lead in the 37th minute when they caught Cornwall on a swift counter-attack but Ricardo Graham deflected a cross from the right just inches from the Cornwall post.
Lee pulled his team level five minutes into the second half when he blasted a shot from close range into the roof of the net and Whyte pushed them ahead 22 minutes into the half when he slotted home from the spot. Sean Watson had handled the ball inside his own box after trying to block a cross from Rocky Baronette.
YESTERDAY'S RESULTS
Zone A: Anchovy 1 Cornwall College 2, H. Morrison 2 St. James 1.
Zone B: Rusea's 1 Grange Hill 3, Merlene Ottey 3 Knockalva 2.
Zone C: Godfrey Stewart 2 Petersfield 1.
Zone D: Cedric Titus 2 Marcus Garvey 2, Browns Town 0 Ferncourt 0.
Zone F: Belair High vs Porus DNP, DeCarteret 3 Bellefield 2.
Zone G: Spalding vs Holmwood called off, Knox 1 Alston 0, Christiana vs Mile Gully DNP.
Zone H: Denbigh 2 Kellits 0, Edwin Allen vs Clarendon College - postponed.
Zone I: Glenmuir 3 Garvey Maceo 1, Kemps Hill 2 Bustamante 0.
Zone J: Dinthill vs Charlemont rain, McGrath vs Ewarton rain.
Zone K: Tacky 0 Brimmer Vale 1, Annotto Bay 2 Islington 0.
Zone L: St. Thomas Technical 0 Titchfield 6, Happy Grove vs Seaforth postponed.
