Northern Caribbean University (NCU) Football Team, the reigning champions of the Inter-College Minor Cup, secured their position with a 3-2 win in the finals against Montego Bay Community College (MBCC) held recently (February 15, 2023) at the Bethlehem Moravian College football field in Malvern, St. Elizabeth.
NCU have remained champions of Intercol Football for over a decade, since their first participation and subsequent win back in 2010. With the pandemic putting a halt on the event, NCU Football Team returned more determined to showcase their worth as true champions.
The game started off tense, with a strong defence from both teams and no goals being scored. However, approximately halfway into the first 45 minutes of the match, NCU had the ball in their favour with the first goal being scored by the captain, Tyriek Smith. The centre-back and midfielder felt elated to have scored the morale-boosting goal for his team which forecasted their expected victory.
The MBCC team refused to stay behind as they delivered a great chance goal, with the ball hitting the post and deflecting into the corner, closing the first half of the match at 1:1. The second half of the match showed the true grit of both teams and their thirst for victory, with a total of 3 goals being scored. But it all came down to the question of ‘who was more thirsty for the win?’.
NCU answered that question with passion, as a few minutes after the break, the team delivered a corner kick which was expertly followed by a header from forward, Jayden Gayle, giving NCU a one-point lead of 2:1. Not losing momentum, NCU’s defender Adrian Tomlinson secured the winning goal with a signature header from a corner kick, carrying the match score to 3:1.
With over 30 minutes remaining in the match, and many chances for a rebound, MBCC remained hopeful and put forth a good game. Despite their efforts, the match came to a close at 3:2, with MBCC scoring a penalty kick in the final few minutes of the match.
Sefton Brown, Social Development Director at NCU, noted that the win was expected and gave his overall thoughts on the match. Brown explained that in football, you have to play well in both halves of the match, and that was the downfall for MBCC, who did not play as well in the second half.
“We told our guys that they are going to go for 90 minutes and if possible extra time, so they were prepared for that and that made the difference on the day”, Brown stated. He asserted that presently the future for football at NCU is “excellent”, indicating that NCU “could use our bench (substitutes) to play a match and we could have come away with the same result”.
Despite the results, the match proved to have some complications for NCU as the team received a total of 3 yellow cards and one red card. According to NCU Captain, Tyriek Smith, these infractions affected the smoothness of the game.
“We got a poor game from the referees,” he charged. However, he was still grateful for the results. “All in all, it was a good game, a tough game, but we stuck it out to the end and came out victorious”.
He added: “We played a team that wanted to win… They were a tough opposition, they played good football.”
Written by Zania McNish | CCMPR
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