Wadadah still in the race

Robert Bailey, Gleaner Writer

Montego Bay's Wadadah kept alive their chances of securing a place in the National Premier League next season with an exciting 2-1 victory over Brazil in a play-off match at Drax Hall in St Ann yesterday.

With one round of matches remaining in the competition Wadadah are now on seven points, two behind leaders Humble Lions (nine) and August Town (eight). Humble Lions and hosts August Town played to an exciting 0-0 draw in the day's other game at the Mona Bowl. The top two teams will advance to next season's National Premier League.

Jermaine Bucknor scored both goals for Wadadah in the 40th and 75th minutes. Christopher Green got the consolation goal for Brazil in the 52nd minute.

The final round of matches to be played on Wednesday will see Humble Lions hosting Wadadah, and August Town away to out-of-contention Brazil.

At the Mona Bowl, the hosts created number a number of clear-cut chances in the first half, but faulty shooting from Aphas Bernard, Nicholas Smith and Richard Hoo let them down. Kimroy Davis received Humble Lions' best chance in the period but his close-range shot was spectacularly saved by custodian Devon Haughton.

Keveral Stewart, coach of Humble Lions, said he was satisfied with his team's performance. "We are pleased with the draw because we always play for a win and if we get a tie I think that is good enough," said Stewart. "I think we need to work on our finishing because we are not relaxed whenever we get inside the box and so we are wasting a lot of opportunities."

Meanwhile, Calvert Fitzgerald, coach of August Town, said: "I thought we played a very good game against Humble Lions because they are good team and we are satisfied with the 1-1 draw. We wanted to win but we just did not put away our chances."