St. Cuthbert’s Mission defeated Laluni 4-2 on penalty kicks, after regulation ended 1-1 in the Region #4 Heritage Games Playoff yesterday at the St Cuthbert’s Mission ground.
The penalty shoot-out started poorly, as both teams failed from the spot in the shape of St. Cuthbert’s Lorenzo Clenkian and Shevin Patterson of Laluni.
Duran Adrian handed St. Cuthbert’s the lead as he converted to start the second round. On the other side, the poor showing from Laluni continued, as Elroy Adams fired his effort over the crossbar.
Carl Henry then increased St Cuthbert’s lead, converting clinically from the distant in the third round. However, Laluni captain Enoch Aaron reduced the deficit, blasting his effort past the opposing custodian.
The home side responded in the fourth round, compliments of Raji Dundas strike to make it 3-1. On the other hand, Junior Persaud converted from Laluni in their fourth attempt to pull the score to 3-2.
However, the clash was sealed in the fifth and final round, as Zack Pereira slotted his effort into the back of the net.
Prior to the penalty shoot-out, Persaud opened the scoring for the visitors in the 23rd minute. With the score remaining unchanged heading into the halftime interval, St. Cuthbert’s Mission grabbed the equaliser in the 51st compliments of a Paul Henry strike.
In a post-match comment, Laluni’s Aaron said, “This was a match that we should have won as we saw how they played against Swan and we saw how Swan exploited their weaknesses, therefore, we should not have lost this match today.” He further said, “St Cuthbert’s Mission has an excellent record in shoot outs and therefore we allowed ourselves to be drawn into their territory so complaining now will make no sense but the reality is that we lost a match that many thought that we were going to win.”
St. Cuthbert’s Mission will now faceoff with Swan for the chance to represent the zone at the 2018 Heritage Games Championship. The earlier clash between the finalists ended 4-2 in favour of Swan.
