Frome advance on goals for rule
Aaron Lawrence, coach of Frome Technical High School, said he was not nervous when his side was trailing Mile Gully 2-0 in the final group game of the quarter-final round of the 2018 ISSA/WATA daCosta Cup knowing that if the score had remained that way they would have been eliminated.
Lawrence charges found the goal they needed to book their spot in the semifinal, a rare instance where the goals for (scored) rule has to be exercised.
Both schools were locked on six points and could not be separated by goal difference either. But Frome scored five goals to Mile Gully’s four in the quarter-final round.
“Throughout the season, most of the game even when we go down to 10 or nine men we keep fighting and coming back. When a team score on us we get extra energy and boost, so I never say never until the final whistle. So I never felt any form of nerves. I was only disappointed that we gave up two goals.
WHERE WE WENT WRONG
“I must lift my hat off to the players because they are the ones that go out there and fight to give us this opportunity into the semi-finals. We just have to continue to work by looking at where we went wrong and build on it from here on,” he added.
“I heard the score in the next game that Port Antonio was down one-nil (against Maggotty High) and I said to the players that we only need one goal to get there (semi-finals). I told them not to panic just work for that one goal and we eventually did.”
Lawrence said he is also happy with what he has been able to achieve in just his second year at Frome, who last won the competition in 2003.
“I’m happy that we are in the semifinals. It has been since 2005 the last time we were in the semi-finals. Also, it’s just my second year at Frome and we are just looking to move forward from this as the team has grown so we are looking for greater days to come,” said Lawrence.
The other daCosta Cup semifinalists are Cornwall College, Dinthill Technical High School, and Clarendon College.