Marion Harte was Akademiks’ No.1 draft pick and he repaid their faith with a match-winning goal worth $100 000 Friday in the Independence Day final of the LIME Pelican Football Challenge.
Harte’s strike in the 89th minute gave Akademiks a thrilling 1-0 victory over joint favourites Phoenix UFO Toyota Fire House in an engrossing championship match at Kensington Oval watched by over 6 000 spectators.
The goal came just four minutes after the tournament’s leading scorer Paul “Soup” Lovell missed a clear-cut chance for Fire House with only Akademiks’ goalkeeper Romayne Primus to beat.
Lovell, with eight goals under his belt, got on the end of a spinning ball delivered through the Akademiks’ defence by sweeper Oscar Nero but struck the left upright and watched in dismay as the ball rebounded across the goalmouth without going over the line.
He then made a desperate back-heel but Primus thwarted the effort of substitute Jason “Fowlie” Blackman to push the ball home.
Harte then extinguished the flames of Fire House when he picked up a perfect pass from substitute Nicholas Best and hit a low left-foot shot, which deflected off a defender on its way past goalkeeper Saheka Duke.
He immediately took off his jersey and raced towards the Akademiks supporters in the packed Greenidge & Haynes Stand with his teammates following.
Referee Trevor Taylor gave him a yellow card before play resumed but that hardly mattered as the Kenville Layne-coached and Wayne Jones-owned Akademiks outfit knew that not even the three minutes of injury time could deny them their moment in time.
“I feel very great. All our fans are rejoicing. This was my dream from day one and it really come through.
“I know all the players are proud. We worked very hard and all the supporters that came out from the Pine are extremely happy,” Akademiks captain Randy Burrowes told SUNSPORT.
The 33-year-old Burrowes, a former Paradise and Barbados defender, said his job was to keep the players focused throughout the match.
“On the field, it was easy communicating with each other and keeping the players in position and sticking to our game plan. As the coach told us, just stay tight, don’t give away any goals and we would get a goal and we will win,” he added.
Before Harte’s decisive strike, nothing was going his way as he was closely marked by left wing back Rohan Hall.
The match was delayed until 9:45 p.m. after there was extra time in the third-place match, won 4-1 by Indar Weir Travel Centre Barbados Steel Works Top Bay Settlers over T.S. Strikers, and a penalty shoot-out in the preceding Under-19 Schools’ League final in which Samuel Jackman Prescod Polytechnic prevailed 4-3 on penalties over Queen’s College.
It started at a hot pace and the first half was marked by some nifty moves by Akademiks’ Damien Welch but he was guilty of veering away from goal at times, rather than taking the ball directly through the centre of the Fire House defence and forcing Oscar Nero and Llewellyn Broomes to challenge for the ball.
The first opportunity fell to Akademiks’ tall defender Jermaine Caesar but he headed up instead of down to a free kick from Burrowes.
Harte also tried to set up strike partner Arantees Lawrence but Llewellyn Broomes did a fantastic job in keeping him at bay, while at the other end, the diminutive Blackman constantly threatened as he linked up with Lovell and Ricky Barnes.
But Omar Primus, later voted the tournament’s Best Defender was equal to the task, reading the script perfectly on almost every occasion.
Fire House went extremely close to scoring when Timothy Walton rose above the Akademiks’ defence to head a corner from Barnes, but goalkeeper Primus superbly tipped the ball over the crossbar.
The resulting corner also saw Akademiks making a desperate goal line clearance of another header by Hall.
Defensive midfielder Renaldo Bignall, who partnered Burrowes to help nullify the threat of Norman Forde, who was never allowed to settle, also sent a powerful 25-yard shot over the crossbar.
In the end, it was Man-Of-The-Match Harte, who like Damien Williams for last year’s champions Bajan Pride, scored the only goal of the final.
