Gracekennedy clip Petrojam 1-0 to lift Business House Football title
GRACEKENNDY walked away with the 2018 edition of the Kingston and St Andrew Business House Football Association (KSA) title by defeating six-time champions Petrojam 1-0 in the final at Winchester Park recently.
This was the company’s fifth hold on the title and the goal that landed the gambit came from the boot of Claude Allen while playing as a traditional right winger in the 37th minute from an assist by Dwayne Smith.
The win gave Gracekennedy their first hold on the title since 1992 and this was after reaching the final consecutively since 2015 in a wholesome period of their rebirth.
The win was momentous and a great fillip for coach Patrick Haughton and his team who came into the game with a plan to end the long wait with a clean sheet and to lift the title to become once again the KSA Business House Football champions.
“It was an unbelievable day. I knew we were going to be victorious. We camped the night before the game and examined the play pattern of this Petrojam team,” Haughton outlined.
“We’ve played them a million times before so we knew how they play and we knew what we had to do to get it right on that particular day. And that was simply to remain compact, stay behind the ball and counter when the opportunity presented itself.
“Sticking to this plan, I was absolutely certain that once we scored they would not score against us because we spoke about maintaining a clean sheet on the day and set about to accomplish the task.”
Haughton added: “Not having won this competition in many years, 26 to be exact, this is a momentous occasion for Gracekennedy, its workers and players alike. To be honest, I could not have asked for anything better today.
“Most important thing about reaching this stage is that we started slowly, picked up as we got in stride and at the end we got it right.”
Haughton started coaching this team from 2015 and they have been in every final since then and to add merit to the achievement, it was against the six-time Business House football competition champions Petrojam.