New kings will be crowned when the 2013 edition of the David Thompson Memorial Constituency Council Football Classic culminates on December 15 at Kensington Oval.
The defending champions, The City, were defeated 2-0 by St Michael South East last Tuesday night at the Orange Hill playing field, St James.
In the earlier semi-final, Christ Church East Central booked their final ticket with a determined 2-1 victory over St George South.
Sherwin Success gave Christ Church East Central the lead in the 54th minute with a wonder strike; a cross from the left found him inside the area and with loads of traffic in front of goal, his powerful left foot volley flew by everyone, including shot stopper Jamar Brewster.
Jabarry “Papi” Chandler doubled Christ Church East’s lead in the 68th minute, courtesy of some sloppy goal keeping by Brewster. What seemed like a relatively tame shot on goal was spilt by Brewster and with Chandler being the opportunist; he slotted home the loose ball from close range.
Substitute Anson Barrow brought a glimmer of hope to St George South when he scored in the 80th minute but the equalizer never came and they will have to settle for a bronze showdown.
Before the St Michael South East fans could make it from the pavilion to their supporters’ corner, their squad was celebrating. From as early as the 2nd minute Carlos Bovell benefited from some indecisive goal keeping by Andre Small.
A hopeless ball lobbed forward should have easily been in Small’s grasp but the City custodian apparently fell asleep on the line, which allowed an alert Bovell to sneak in and slip his effort beyond the diving keeper.
It was an offensive encounter as both teams traded attacks regularly. The City lacked penetration and patience, since most of the time forward Rohan Hewitt was boxed in by the St Michael South East defence and his partner up front, Renaldo Seale, never got into the game.
Captain Jeffrey Williams along with fellow midfielders Carl Joseph and Enrico Cave tried without success, to break their opponents down.
St Michael South East scored their second goal in the 29th minute and again it was Bovell. A neat exchange of passes by Barbados Defence Force Sports Programme pair Mario Harte and Nicholas Best resulted in Best’s shot on goal being parried by Small but only as far as Bovell who lashed onto the rebound to score from inside the penalty area.
St Michael South East withstood the predictable pressure, with teenage custodian Romario Browne producing some outstanding saves, to maintain his team’s lead and their spot in the first finals appearance.
