Reid finds target with free kick but Real Mona, Maxfield draw
REAL MONA’S forward, Ryan Reid, lived up to the standard of his hero, Cristiano Ronaldo, as he scored a free-kick goal that earned a 1-1 draw with Maxfield Park FC in the opening game of Tuesday night’s double-header at Harbour View Ministadium.
With the game goalless, the predominantly left-footed Reid used his favoured leg to bend a nicely struck free kick over the wall and past the outstretched left hand of Maxfield Park FC’s striker-turnedkeeper, William Price.
The goalscorer said he had trained very hard to get his free kicks right.
“First and foremost, I practise in training by myself. I train before everybody and even on my own I try, so in training, I kick like 40 and score like one. I tell the players, I bet them that when I get one I’ll put it away,” admitted Reid, smiling from ear to ear after seeing the efforts of his training-ground exploits come to fruition.
“My footballer is Cristiano Ronaldo. He does the same. He practises over and over and over, and he made a bet the other day that he misses 10 in training and scores one in the match. It’s the same thing for me,” Reid continued.
“Executing is always good, and as the season progresses, I hope to execute some more, and at the end of the day, it helps my team to be victorious,” he added.
That seemed on the cards until Real Mona FC’s Wayne Williams handled the ball inside the box at the 62nd minute, and the referee awarded a penalty.
Ricardo Monroe obliged, sending veteran goalkeeper Kenrick Picknight the wrong way.
“It wasn’t a result that I liked. I hope that the team would’ve earned three points, but at the end of the day, it didn’t work out,” noted Reid.
Maxfield Park FC’s head coach, Peter ‘Juggler’ Brown, was also not pleased with the result.
“I’m not too happy, but I could’ve got all three (points),” said Brown. “Faulty shooting let me down, so we have to go back to the drawing board and work on our finishing. If we were more clinical in the defensive third of our opponent, chances are we could have capitalised and scored more goals.”
CONVERTED PLAYER
Brown also pointed out that he had transformed striker Price into a goalkeeper as part of disciplinary measures against regular keepers who did not attend training.
“The goalkeeper in question is a centre forward. We had to convert him in about three days. So what you saw was a three-day training session. That’s what you saw out there. So he was prone to making mistakes, but the protection of the defence sort of made his life a bit easier,” said Brown.
Meanwhile, last year’s beaten finalists, Brown’s Town FC, will go in search of their second victory when they play against Mountain View FC in the feature match of tonight’s double-header at Harbour View Mini stadium.
At 8:30 p.m., Brown’s Town, who beat Central Kingston 1-0 in their opening game last week Friday, will face Mountain View, which played to a goalless draw against Santos on Tuesday night.
In the opening game at 6:30 p.m., Central Kingston will be looking to rebound when they face Rockfort FC, which drew their opening match 0-0 against Boys’ Town FC.