Adrian Frater, News Editor

Merlene Ottey's Kadean Parchment (left) is held by Anchovy High School's Dave Lee during yesterday's ISSA/Pepsi/Digicel daCosta Cup game at Jarrett Park. Merlene Ottey scored a surprise 2-1 win. - Photo by Adrian Frater

Western Bureau:

Eight-time champions Rusea's continue to pile up the goals in the ISSA/Pepsi/Digicel daCosta Cup, but ended up conceding their first goal of the season when they registered a big 5-1 win over Knockalva in their Zone B fixture at Knockalva yesterday.

Rusea's, which started the season with a 6-0 spanking of Merlene Ottey, got their goals through striker Godfrey Cunningham, who scored a hat-trick, and skipper Damain Thompson and Roydell Moncrieffe, who got a goal each.

"I can't get too excited about this win because Knockalva is one of the weaker teams in the zone," said Rusea's coach Anthony 'Follies' Williams, whose team has now taken over the lead in the zone leadership from newcomers Hopewell High. "My one disappointment is that ISSA is allowing schoolboy football to be played on the Knockalva field."

Exciting encounter

In another Zone B match at Jarrett Park, Merlene Ottey rebounded from their heavy loss against Rusea's with a 2-1 win over the previously unbeaten Anchovy High at Jarrett Park. Garen Downie (penalty) and Kedar Graham got the goals for Merlene Ottey.

"I am happy for the win but I believe we could have done better because we got the chances," said Xavier Mitchell, coach of Merlene Ottey. "With this win, we are now looking to improve our perfor-mance with each game."

In a game which was exciting in patches, Merlene Ottey took the lead when they were awarded a penalty in the 19th minute after an Anchovy defender was penalised for handling the ball. Downie made no mistake from the spot, making the half-time score 1-0.

In second half action, Merlene Ottey doubled their lead in the 61st minute. Graham capitalised on a defensive error and with a clear shot on goal, fired home easily to make the score 2-0.

With time running out Anchovy, which previously had 1-0 wins against Frome and Knockalva, got a consolation goal from Dave Lee, who headed home a cross from Jason Plummer, making the final score 2-1.

Heavyweights

The competition will continue this afternoon with seven games, three in Zone A and four in Zone K. Among the teams that will be on show are former champions Cornwall College (4), which will take on surprise Zone A leaders Maldon High (7) on their home turf at Cornwall.

St James High (4), another of the Zone A heavyweights, will be hunting their second win of the season at the expense of newcomers Spot Valley High, who took a point off Irwin High in their last game.

Zone B

Rusea's 5 Knockalva 1, Merlene Ottey 2 Anchovy 1, Frome 4 Green Island 1

Zone D

Cedric Titus 1 Ocho Rios 0, Brown's Town 1 Marcus Garvey 0

Zone E

Lacovia 2 STETHS 1, B.B. Coke 1 Balaclava 1, Munro 2 Maggotty 1

Zone H

Clarendon College vs Denbigh (rained out), Thompson Town vs Claude McKay (rained out)

Today's games

Zone A

Green Pond vs Herbert Morrison at Green Pond

Cornwall College vs Maldon at Cornwall College

St. James vs Spot Valley at Jarrett Park

Zone K

Oracabessa vs St. Mary High at Eden Park

Brimmervale vs Iona at Brimmervale

St Mary Tech vs Islington at Richmond Prison Farm

Tacky vs Annotto Bay at Tacky