St Leonard’s Boys made it twice as nice when they trounced Christ Church Foundation 5-2 to capture their second consecutive Under-16 Barbados Secondary Schools Football League title Friday afternoon at the Usain Bolt Sports Complex, Paradise Park.
The Richmond Gap lads opened the scoring very quickly into the first-half when Shamario Marshall scored in the 8th minute. At this stage St. Leonard’s were making all the running and in the 14th minute Ray Francis made it 2-0.
St Leonard’s Boys’ Ray Francis (in red)tried to dribble his way past Cliff Gooding- Edghill of Foundation who did well to block his progress.
Foundation’s defence continued to be porous and allowed St Leonard’s many opportunities to run unhindered into their 18-yard box. It was during two of these many forays that Neil Reid-Stephens, who tormented Foundation throughout, scored two goals in the 20th and 24th minutes to make it 4-0.
Deroni Hurley of St Leonard’s (left) trying to control the ball as Foundation’s Dishon Alleyne attempts to intercept.
St Leonard’s captain Shakiel James kept his eyes on the ball and cut it back from Foundation’s defenders.
Foundation finally got on the scoresheet in the 35th minute with a goal from Chad Massiah. But any thought that this was the start of a major comeback was quickly doused when in the 45th minute Kobe Shepherd nailed one past Foundation’s goalkeeper Liam Brathwaite to make it 5-1.
Shaquan Walrond would pick up a consolation goal in the 58th minute but by that time it was merely a matter of waiting for the final whistle.
Winning coach Fabian Massiah attributed his team’s success to hard work.
“It is hard work that paid off. The guys felt a little sad when Foundation knocked us out at the semifinal stage of the knockout,” Massiah said.
“The culture has always been there. We always had a good football culture. However in recent years I find that the commitment and discipline had went away, so I had to instill that when I returned,” he added.
A former national junior player, Massiah noted today’s game was sweet revenge.
“They somewhat went to sleep at 4-0 and conceded to make it 4-1 and at the back of their minds and maybe mine, was the fact that Foundation came from 3-0 down the last time [we played] to tie the game at 3-3. So that was always a factor. However we were confident that if they scored four we could score five because we scored over 50-something goals this season. We know how to create them it is just a matter of taking the chances when we get them,” he said.