George Town relinquish their cup

(CIFA): For the past two seasons George Town Sports Club have proudly held possession of the Digicel Cup, GT are known for being a knock out cup team who always manage to put aside their league form to rise to the occasion in a knockout situation. Not this year, George Town fell at the first hurdle as Elite took the spoils this Sunday and George Town will now have a few Sundays off as they will watch from the sideline as the four remaining teams left in the Digicel Cup battle it out to take their crown. Jario Sanchez’s early free kick sent Elite on their way, Sanchez smashed home from a central position 20 yards out after George Town gave away an innocuous foul.

George Town forced their way back into contention before a killer blow just before half time. A lack of communication at the back resulted in Metchie Williams heading into his own goal, GT failed to handle a long ball which initially presented no danger and on the stroke of half time they went 2:0 down.

Elite seemed to be sailing into the next round of the cup and George Town’s reign was nearing an end, but with ten minutes to go GT must have woken up to this fact and piled on the pressure.

Greg Ebank’s side were reduced to 10 men with ten minutes to play after Elite defender Demarr Walker handled in the penalty area giving George Town a lifeline. Fabian Malcolm coolly converted from the penalty spot and set up a frantic finish. GT could of and should have equalized, GT had three golden opportunities to level things up after a long ball into the penalty area was miss handled by Elite goal keeper James Josephs who was under immense pressure from the athletic Justin Pierre who mange to rise above Joseph and get a head on the ball to create a manic scramble in the box. The ball fell to Tex

Whitelocke who’s goal bound shot was re directed by Fabian Malcolm who managed to hit the cross bar from three yards out, the re-bound fell back into the path off Whitelocke who fired wide right from 8 yards out, the chaos in the penalty area had the large crowd in attendance on their feet as GT looked to pull out a comeback.

The narrowmiss seemed to spur on GT who felt that they could get an equaliser and take the game into extra time.  

GT will regret not tying the game up as they were punished severely in the dying moments of the game when the ten men Elite side countered George Town who were over committing players to attack. In an imperious closing spell GT left themselves short at the back and Alex Belcher made them pay, Elite broke with pace and Belcher sealed Elite’s win and threw GT out of the cup with a superb strike in the 83rd minute finding the bottom right corner of the goal from 25 yards out.

Elite’s victory condemned George Town to their third consecutive loss in all competitions, whilst Elite’s unbeaten run continues, after losing 1:0 to Roma in their first game of the season Elite have been near perfect.

In the earlier match up Roma United saw off Cayman Athletic to put their name into the hat for the next round, it took overtime before the deadlock was broken. A stunning strike in 101st minute by Kenroy Graham saw off Cayman Athletic and it was a strike worthy of winning any game as Graham cut in from the left 30 yards from goal to deliver a sublime top corner finish.

Roma will enter the semi-final draw as underdogs as they currently are the lowest positioned Premier League team to make it through to the next round as high flying Bodden Town and Scholars both registered their places into the semi-final draw with wins in West Bay.

Bodden Town saw off Tigers FC in the earlier match up at the Ed Bush Sports Complex, after going a goal behind in the 73rd minute courtesy of a Alfredo Challenger penalty Bodden Town battled back to score two goals in seven minutes, Yefry Calderon continued in his rich vein of form equalizing in the 79th minute as did Arvid Harris who completed BT’s comeback in the 86th minute.

In the later game at Ed Bush, Scholars ran out 2:0 winners over Future Sports Club who remains winless in all competitions this season. The goals came from Scholars Captain Mark Ebanks in the 12th minute and Damalay Howelle in the 85th. 

The draw for the next round of the Digicel Cup will take place this Thursday December 15, 2011 at 10am at the retail Digicel store in Camana Bay. Bodden Town, Elite SC, Roma United and Scholars International will be included in the semi-final draw. The semi-final draw will consist of two games and the total aggregate score will be taken into account. For more information follow Cayman Football at www.facebook.com/caymanfootball