Defending champions St George South produced a clutch performance on Wednesday night to reach the quarter-finals of the David Thompson Memorial Constituency Councils Football Classic.
Playing at Westbury, first half goals from Shakille Belle and Romario Drakes propelled the holders to a 2-0 triumph over a determined St James South, who pushed the St George men all the way, despite the seemingly comfortable scoreline.
In the night’s other encounter, home side City of Bridgetown crashed out of the tournament after a painful 1-0 defeat to St John in a keenly contested game. St John skipper Romario “Pete Pete” Harewood rifled home one minute from time to break the hearts of a massive home crowd.
Both sides entered the fixture with four points and the result propelled St John ahead of City of Bridgetown in the standings and kept alive their hopes of reaching the last eight.
Proactive
In the feature match, St James South, to their credit, were very proactive in their approach in what was a very even first 25 minutes. However, it was the defending champions who drew first blood.
A lovely piece of skill from Shaquan Clarke down the left saw the attacker turn his marker inside out before skipping into the area and blasting a right-footed shot on goal. Goalkeeper Seon Odle was only able to parry Clarke’s strike, with the ball ricocheting to the top of the area and into the path of the arriving Belle, who kept his cool to take a settling touch before ramming the ball home in the 28th minute.
St George South, buoyed by their opening goal, doubled their advantage just five minutes later. A free kick was blown for St George South in the left-back position, deep in their own half. The ball was floated towards Dario “Ears” Harewood, who nodded it on to Romario Drakes, who took the pass in stride, broke in on goal, and calmly slotted past the onrushing Odle.
In the second half, St James South tried to find a way back into the game. They achieved plenty of possession, but with St George South happy to sit deep and break occasionally via Belle, chances were few and far between.
