THE RAIN CERTAINLY DIDN’T bring any blessings for Armando Lashley or his Christ Church South football team on Saturday night.
Playing at Dover, the home side went down to St James South 2-0 in the David Thompson Constituency Councils Football Classic, to remain winless after two games.
Strikes from Len Ross Davis in the second minute and substitute Brandon Headley in the 73rd were all St James South needed to start their campaign on a winning note.
In the night’s first game, St Lucy trounced St Michael South Central 5-1. Antonio Corbin scored a hat-trick with goals in the 21st, 82nd and 87th minutes, while Steve Watson (9th) and Kenroy Skinner (49th) also got their name on the scoresheet.
Jadai Clarke scored St Michael South Central’s lone goal in the 80th minute.
Lashley, the captain, would have been especially disappointed with his performance, after blasting his penalty effort wide with St James South leading 1-0 in the second half.
The visitors held that lead from the opening minutes after Davis sneaked behind Christ Church South’s defence before unleashing a left foot shot which passed under advancing goalkeeper Dwayne Phillips, and into the bars.
The goal seemed to leave the home side shell-shocked, and their opponents duly seized the initiative on their way to completely dominating the first half.
Davis spurned an opportunity to net his second goal after being played through one-on-one by Javon Jones, but his weak shot was directed straight at Phillips.
Despite plenty of possession in the midfield thanks mainly to Lashley and Trevor “Taj” Mayers, Christ Church South lacked conviction in front of goal.
The visitors should really have doubled their lead just before half time following a delightful run down the right by Andre Leslie.
His pinpoint cross found a lurking Dayo Ward, who inexplicably fired his shot over the bars.
Immediately on resumption, Christ Church South were awarded a penalty and Lashley slid his shot wide of the left post with the keeper having dived the wrong way.
Phillips then produced a brilliant save to deny Leslie after he had sprinted free into the 18-yard box.
And after Christ Church South were unlucky not to draw level when Kadeem Latham’s shot was deflected onto the crossbar, Headley put the final nail in their coffin.
Having been on the field for just one minute, following a quick counter-attack, he raced onto a ball down the left side of the box and rolled it through the legs of an advancing Phillips.
