The Crucial Decider
 

The warm up

When the two top of the table teams meet in the penultimate game of any competition, all eyebrows should be raised on what could be the crucial decider between leaders University of the West Indies and second place Central Kingston FC. This game could be considered a mini final as only one point separate the two teams with two other teams following closely. The 2009-10 Claro KSAFA Major League football Title could be decided on this day and at this game. The drama unfolded thus:

The Setting

Match: KSAFA Claro Major League match between UWI and Central Kingston FC.
Date: Saturday March 13 , 2010 3.30pm;
Venue: UWI Bowl.
Weather: Sunny hot, windy.
Field: Grass , uneven bounce expected due to raised surface areas and very thick grass in western half of the field.
Coaches: Neville Bell – UWI and Rohan Maxwell – Central Kingston FC. Formation: UWI 3-5-2 ; Central Kingston FC 4 - 4 2
Referee –Kevin Thomas, Assistants Paulette Riley and Leroy Miller;

Both teams and officials were early except the match commissary who did not show up for the game. The media and members of the KSAFA Council were on hand to view and cover this exciting encounter.

Result: UWI-1 (Andre Bernal 29th min) : Central Kingston-1 (Ricardo Rowe 3rd min)

The Warm Up

The visitors were the first to take to the field as the exciting bunch of inner city footballers were on a quest to realize their seven years dreams to play in the KSAFA Super League come next year and put themselves out front for the final game. They started with some dynamic agility routines followed up with some short sprints and concluded with static stretching.

The homesters who were just a few minutes behind, were quickly into some multi directional movements to get themselves ready for the game. This followed up with the static stretching and concluded with as small side passing game.

Pre Game

Coach Rohan Maxwell of Central Kingston expressed a very positive view that his team would win the game and be the new leaders just before the final round. His optimism was based on having beaten the UWI team in the first round and with the very high spirit in the team at the moment, all seemed set for a crucial victory and pole position.

UWI coach Neville Bell referred to the fact that his team was coming off a very good run, winning all of their last eight games to be the new leader in the competition. At this point, therefore he felt that his team was definitely more confident as their second round burst were due mainly to some of his new signees to the team during the January transfer window. These players who were students from August, but were members of other clubs, so they had to wait for the transfer to take effect at the proper time. He proffered that playing at home and with this kind of winning streak, his team was now ready to play in the Super League, a win would guarantee their spot for next year.

High Expectation yet Early Change in the Script

UWI Major League Team	Central Kingston Major League Team

The small but active supporters on hand to view this crucial decider were on the edge of their seat from the very first whistle The college boys started to pass the ball around and looked pretty with some very good ball movement and running into space in the early minutes. Their opponent , while obviously more skillful ,were not showing earl signs of organization, so the college boys looked set to continue their winning streak. The visitors however managed to change this expectation as early as in the third minute when the UWI central defenders did not make the necessary adjustment in due time to a ball coming in from the deep and the central defender mistimed his jump allowing the Central Kingston nippy mid-fielder, Ricardo Rowe to collect the ball behind the defender and slammed a powerful right footer past the UWI custodian who had no chance.

The Comeback-Bertis’ signature statement

The goal did not seem to bother the homesters as they continued to make passes and created scoring opportunities one after the other without making them count. The game during this stage had both teams looking very businesslike with their build ups and telling crosses. What became more obvious was that the midfield and forwards were the strength of the teams and the defenders were the weak link for both teams as nether were reading the possible movements due to the strong wind, yet the forward were not able to capitalize. With the inner-city supporters sensing a win, they began to urge their team on even though the UWI team was having the better of the exchanges but seemed to lack the finishing touch. This though, did not stop the very powerful header in the 29 minute by UWI’s # 4 Andre Bernal from a cross coming from the right flank into the goal area . The Central Kingston goalkeeper who was clearly unsure of himself and stayed put, could not prevent the equalizer. There were whispers around the ground-“Another Bertis Bell fightback”

Game On-

While still maintaining the moderate pace through the half ,the homesters seemed to show the greater effect of the weather and possibly carnival on campus and started to defend with 7 or 8 in the back and acres of space between the attackers and their midfields who were sticking close to the backline. The modest crowd kept cheering and hopeful. The teams, while playing more cautious started to rely on individualism rather than on team coordination as they started out, . This continued until the referee blew his whistle to end the first half. Advantage UWI who seemed to be more organized.

Chess play unfolds- Central Kingston had president of Jamaica Chess federation in corner

The second half started out much the same way the first half ended. The slick passes were missing and more one and one encounter began to take shape. The very slow rate of reception and distribution of the ball prevented the inner city boys from taking the lead in the early minutes of the second half as both teams tried to settle things in the middle third of the field without paying attention to the wind and its effect on the ball that was very much in the air and not on the ground. The UWI boys continued to create more scoring chances without making them count as Andre Bernal was more than a handful for the Central Kingston defense. The presence of Ian Wilkinson ,a son of Central Kingston and president of the Jamaica Chess Federation ,seemed to have brought a sobering effect to the game plan and strategy of the Central Kingston team. Armed with his book “Magnificent Chess”, the rooks, pawns, knight and bishop made sure that ‘Uwiee’ didn’t checkmate and capture their King. Central Kingston played with tenacity and warded off the marauding attack of the scholars.

When the substitution began in the 70th minute and onward, there was no vivid impact on the speed or quality of play in this half , so the more skillful downtowners who were able to show greater determination than their more organized and tired scholarly opponents, still could not get that second goal they so desperately wanted as the UWI improved defense led by their # 17 Owen Hill(MVP) who was rebounding from a less than average first half. His presences was the main intimidating factor for the Central Kingston attackers . With both teams getting the opportunity to take the lead even up to the 89rh minute when UWI striker Andre Bernal failed to convert a sitter some 5 yards out. . When the referee called the proceedings to an end , the 1-1 result threw the championship wide open as 4 teams now have a chance to win the title.

The one point did not satisfy the coaches as both coaches taught they should have won the game. The truth is that the draw reflected to how the game was played as both teams need to pay attention to playing 90 minutes of football and not just a good first half.
with four teams now all having a chance to win title any number can play next Saturday.