Gleaner, Carib Cement in goalless draw

Defending champions Carib Cement and arch-rivals The Gleaner played to a goalless draw in their feature KSAFA/Western Sports Business House Division I football match at Winchester Park, St. George's College, last Monday.

The match was a virtual replay of last year's final, which saw Carib Cement coming from behind to beat Gleaner 3-2 in extra time.

After an evenly contested first half, Carib Cement looked the more purposeful team with Alexi Dobson, Twain Wynter, Raphael Bellinfante, Hanif Freckleton, Mark Poole and the Lowe brothers, Orlando and Ingi, pressing hard for a goal.

They effectively took control of midfield with some slick passing and in the last 20 minutes came close to scoring on a number of occasions. Indeed, were it not for sturdy defending by Gleaner's captain Bernard Blackwood and brilliant goalkeeping by Everdeen Scarlett, Carib Cement would have broken the deadlock.

Scarlett was called on to make some spectacular saves, parrying shots from Dobson, Wynter and Ingi Lowe.

Gleaner, meanwhile, tried desperately to put their passes together, But on the few occasions they got inside the 18-yard box, front men Keiron Brock, Kemel Mullings and Marvin 'Buddy Boy' Stewart failed to finish.

In other Division I matches played last week, Scotiabank defeated UWI 4-2, thanks to a hat-trick from Donovan Hibbert. NWC beat Courts 1-0 with a late goal from David Laylor, JNBS clipped UWI 1-0 with a Jair Minott first-half goal.

In Division II on Wednesday, newcomers Jamaica Fire Brigade pipped highly fancied GraceKennedy 3-2, thanks to a 90th-minute goal from Venton Freckleton. Other scorers for Fire Brigade were Karien Morrison and Christopher Jackson. Andrew Chisolm scored both goals for GraceKennedy. Petrojam beat Wisynco 2-1 through Aphas Bernard in the 68th and an own goal.

National Housing Trust beat Norman Manley International Airport 1-0 via a 41st minute penalty from player/coach Jahmiah Pettigrew.

The first round of the Scotiabank Group KO competition is on tomorrow with Gleaner vs defending champions Petrojam at Winchester Park, starting at 3:30 p.m., in a repeat of the 2008 final. Courts take on Jamaica Fire Brigade at the old Men's Hockey Field, Mona.

Berger are KO domino champs

Berger Paints maintained their unbeaten run this season when they defeated Port Authority 75-59 in the Jamaica Electrical Technologies (JET)-sponsored Business House KO domino final at the JPS Sports Club, Ruthven Road, on Friday night.

Berger thus gained sweet revenge, having lost the 2008 Division II final to Port Authority. Both have been promoted to Division I this season.

In the semi-finals, Berger defeated Companies of Jamaica 75-54, while Berger beat Premix 75-63. In the final, Berger won the first nine games and never looked back, winning by 16 points. The MVP pair was R. McDonald and C. Barnett.

The KO trophy was presented to winning captain Neville Thomas by Calman Barrett, CEO of JET.

Digicel, LIME in big 20/20 clash

Digicel and defending champions LIME will meet in the feature first round Digicel 20/20 Business House cricket match today at Kensington Park starting at noon.

Both teams won their opening round Best Dressed Chicken KO 30-over matches on June 21 and their batsmen are in good form.

LIME, however, boast the stronger team as they have in their line-up national players Yannick Elliott and Horace Miller, as well as former Jamaica and West Indies under-19 player Andre McCarthy, Melbourne Senior League player Dave Johnson and all-rounder Marvin Lobban, among others.

Digicel will counter with Garfield Moore and Lloyd Gold, both of whom have already scored centuries this season, as well as former Jamaica under-19 player Jowayne Robinson, Kensington's Ian Dewar and all-rounders Shamar Anderson and Hanif Palmer.

The other opening round matches on today are Jamaica Broilers vs Continental Baking Company at Spring Village, St Catherine, and Sagicor/Life vs National Water Commission at Chalmers Avenue.

Five-a-side football

As many as 68 teams have entered the 2009 Business House five-a-side football competition, 12 playing in Division I and 56 in four zones in Division II.

Matches are played at the NWC playing field, Mona.

Results of recent matches are as follows:

Division II leaders Locker Room Sports defeated Newport Mills 12-5, thanks to four goals each from former national player Lovel Palmer and Kirk Ramsay. Locker Room Sports had earlier beaten Roto Flex 4-1 with Palmer netting three.

Newcomers Honey Bun blanked KLAS 4-0 with George Hoyt scoring twice, while Cable Pro Data Service defeated G4S 3-1 with Tivoli player Jermaine Taylor getting a brace.

In the latest round of matches on Thursday, Cable Pro drew 2-2 with Universal Windows, G4S beat Sagicor 3-1, ICD Group blanked FirstCaribbean 5-0 and Honey Bun clipped Housing Agency 2-1. Matches are of 40-minute duration.

3-on-3 basketball

After losing their first two matches by narrow margins, The Gleaner finally opened their account with a 35-30 victory over VMBS at the Stadium Courts last Monday in Division II action.

Gleaner's captain Omar Wolfe led the scoring with 16 points, followed by Dwayne McLeod with seven.

Open League netball

Scotiabank 'A' and B' teams along with Jamaica Broilers continued their unbeaten runs in the Business House Netball Association Open League after the last round of matches at the Leila Robinson Courts.

Scotiabank 'A', with a number of past and present national players in their line-up, crushed NEM Insurance Company 57-3 with goal shooter Marsha Murphy leading the way, while Scotia 'B' defeated NWC 26-12. Jamaica Broilers drubbed Housing Agency of Jamaica 57-3. All three teams are unbeaten in four matches up to last week.

In other matches, RBTT whipped Cool Petroleum Corporation 38-7, Bureau of Standards beat Gleaner 15-7, JPS defeated JNBS 19-5, HEART Trust/NTA stopped Jamaica Business Development Centre 18-13, Sagicor beat Wray & Nephew 16-11, Digicel got by NMIA Airports Limited 14-8, NHT stopped Pan Caribbean 21-8, ICD Group clipped JUTC 12-10, Berger Paints drubbed Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica 22-4, NCB stopped JF Mills 20-8, Advantage General beat Juici Patties 22-9, Wisynco Group defeated Transport Authority 16-11, GraceKennedy beat SERHA 17-12, ATL Group stopped Jamaica Infrastructure Operators 28-18, while VMBS and Guardian Life played to a 15-all tie.