North Georgetown Secondary School (NGSS) prevailed in their adrenaline-charged 4-3 nail biter against St. Winefred’s Secondary School yesterday in the Digicel Schools championship to progress to the second round.
At the Ministry of Education Sports Complex ground, Carifesta Avenue, NGSS was boosted by a Nehemiah Gomes brace (9th and 29th) and a goal each from Reuben Miller (35th) and captain Christopher Waddell (51st) as they managed to hold on for the win.
Deandre Smith 50th, Andrew Holder 55th and Stephon Reynolds 69th were the goal scorers for St. Winefred’s.
Three goals in 25 minutes gave St. Winefred’s some hope before the final whistle was blown.
Earlier, some five minutes into the second half, Smith had finally gotten the ball past a stubborn Jeremiah Reynolds, NGSS’s goalie, to mark the start of a late surge by St. Winefred’s.
The goal did not go down well with the NGSS players who saw a powerful kick from their skipper Waddell reach the back of the net to give them a 4-1 lead one minute later. In the 55th minute Holder scored his team’s second goal after four previous attempts were either blocked by the determined goalkeeper or hit the post.
One minute from stoppage time Reynolds pulled off a beauty after dribbling several defenders to score his team’s final goal.
The winners dominated the entire first half ending with a 3-0 lead. Vincent Willings had played the ball down the centre to Gomes, who collected it some 18 yards away from the goal, carried it just inside the box, before patting it to the last post for a clinical finish to open NGSS account in just the ninth minute.
He scored his second off a 20-yard free kick in the 29th minute to push NGSS to a 2-0 advantage. Miller completed the first half rout when Willings, on his second assist, slipped a pass to him from the centre to the left wing from where he subsequently scored.
