CATHERINE HALL, St James — Saturday was Peter Sinclair’s 18th birthday but it was the first -year starting goalkeeper who gave out the prizes, as he made two spectacular saves to lead his Cornwall College team to a hard-fought 3-2 win over Wolmer’s Boys’ in the first round of the ISSA Champions Cup at Montego Bay Sports Complex.

The evenly matched teams played out a 1-1 draw and Sinclair, who was on the bench for most of last year, came up trumps with two big saves in the second and third rounds of the shoot-out.

He went to his left to deny Shamar McLean, deflecting the ball on to the underside of the crossbar, then went to his right to save David Rogers’ shot.

Dispute his heroics, neither Sinclair nor Cornwall College’s goalkeeper coach Warren Barrett was surprised at his exploits.

Asked whether he was anxious or nervous going into the shoot-out, Sinclair said, “Not at all; I was not nervous or anxious. My first nervous game was against Garvey Maceo (in the daCosta Cup quarter-finals a week earlier), and I told my teammates, I promised them that it won’t happen again, as they saw that I was a bit shaky then.”

Sinclair replaced Davion Peterkin as the starter this year and said that was because of the hard work he had put in and the improvements he had made in the last 12 months.

“I was the reserve last year and last year’s starter is still here, but my game has improved and my coach saw that and I became the number one-and I had to prove myself,” he told the Jamaica Observer.

Barrett agreed with his pupil’s assessment. “No, I am not surprised at all. he has come a far way and I know his talent and abilities, and he is eager to learn.”

Barrett recalled his first encounter with Sinclair a year ago at a goalkeeper camp held at Herbert Morrison Technical. “I saw him last year when we had our goalkeeping camp. I threw a few balls at him to dive and I had to shake my head and say ‘that was not diving son that was falling down’ and so we had to go back to basics and start all over. but he is a fast learner and has come a far, far way.”

Sinclair said he felt good that he had been the difference between a loss and win for his team, but said he was repaying the confidence they showed in him.

“My teammates believe in me and that is the number one thing. in any team you must believe in each other, belief is the first thing.”

— Paul Reid