SANTA CRUZ, St Elizabeth — The large crowd which braved the rain on Saturday to watch home team St Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS) beat Munro College 3-2 in the ISSA/Flow daCosta Cup witnessed a thriller.

STETHS, registering their second victory over their arch-rivals this season following a 1-0 win over Munro at Alpart Sports Club two weeks ago, got their goals from the increasingly prolific Michael Kerr in the ninth and 35th minutes and Romeo Wright in the 17th.

Munro, cursing themselves for having failed to capitalise after STETHS were reduced to 10 men for the last 15 minutes (plus time added) because of a red card to Captain Chris Andre Dixon, they saw their rising star, Californian Carlos Polomares, score in the 23rd and 48th minutes.

On a lush field that held up admirably despite the rain, spectators saw attractive football, particularly in the first half with both teams relying on precision passing and strong running.

As legs grew weary in the second half, the game lost some of its polish, yet even then fans had much to cheer about.

With the first meaningful attack, Munro goalkeeper Onandi McKenzie pulled off a breath-taking save slapping away Wright’s strong header from point-blank range from a cross from the left.

But with nine minutes gone, STETHS would not be denied. A right-sided corner was headed across goal for Kerr to easily nod home.

But Munro were visibly gaining confidence — the combination of short passing of their midfielders, including Ryan Gouldbourne and a second Californian Alex Preciado, catching the eye.

Their equalising goal, when it came, was no surprise. A powerful shot from distance by Oneeko Allen left the STETHS goalkeeper Sanjay Ferguson unable to hold cleanly, and Polomares popped up to knock home the fumble.

The game was now in full swing, on a knife’s edge, with spectators howling their delight.

STETHS thought they had scored when Travar McCulloch’s deflected shot dipped late. But McKenzie soared high to get fingertips to the ball and push over the bar.

Then, with 33 minutes gone, STETHS made inroads down the right with a rapid, well co-ordinated attack. Kerr’s shot was blocked by the ‘keeper but Wright buried the rebound.

The cheers were still ringing when STETHS found their third goal two minutes later. Another magnificent combination surge through the inside right channel ended with Kerr’s low, powerful right-footed shot nestling in the goalkeeper’s right-hand corner.

The teams ended the half with STETHS in the ascendancy and seemingly set for an emphatic victory.

But Munro came out running hard against STETHS’s defence in the second half and found their second goal within five minutes. A sublime short-passing move tore the centre of STETHS’s defence apart, and with goalie Ferguson beaten, Polomares slotted at leisure.

The sustained Munro pressure ended with Ferguson reacting swiftly to save a point-blank header.

But STETHS remained deadly on the counter and a lovely sweeping move ended with Kerr heading home. But the offside call put an end to deafening cheers.

With tension building, Dixon, STETHS’s captain and hard-working central midfielder, buckled in the 75th minute. His tempestuous swing caught an opponent leaving referee Courtney Campbell with no option but to produce the red card for violent conduct.

But hard as they tried, Munro could not break STETHS to get the equalising goal.

The victory pushed four-time daCosta Cup winners STETHS to 15 points in the zone, second place behind surprise front-runners Lacovia High on 16. Munro are third on 13 points, with BB Coke High fourth on 11 points and Maggotty High on nine points.

— Garfield Myers