Spot Valley coach vows to bounce back from Rusea’s loss
FLORENCE HALL, Trelawny — After losing their first game of the season, Spot Valley High Coach Ricardo Blake is warning all and sundry to write them off at their own peril.
Spot Valley High lost 0-1 to Rusea’s High in a feisty rescheduled daCosta Cup Group 1 encounter at the Trelawny Multipurpose Stadium in Thursday. Damar Sailsman scored a header in the 57th minute to give the Paul “Tegat” Davis-coached Rusea’s the win.
Sailsman, who had a few scoring chances, was left alone at the far post and headed in back across the goal from a corner kick.
Blake thinks they can do enough in their two remaining games to advance from the round of 32.
“The guys played excellently today, we just left that back post unmarked, we didn’t track the ball and they got one in. We showed integrity, we showed character and fight and I won’t take anything from them,” he told the Jamaica Observer.
“We saw where we should have taken our chances, or where we didn’t finish and we’re gonna put in the work. Spot Valley is not out, we are definitely not out and we will be back,” Blake vowed.
Davis said his team had been spurred on by reports about Spot Valley’s impressive unbeaten run in the first round.
“That really motivated us, you know. I personally did some research on how they play, style of playing, and today the guys did well,” he explained.
“I still think we are giving away the ball too cheaply; we have to be more patient, spread the ball around like how we can do, but we got that one important goal and it paid dividends,” Davis added.
In other matches, Glenmuir High shook off back-to-back losses at the end of the first round to beat defending champions Clarendon College; Frome Technical were 3-0 winners over Cedric Titus High; Central High beat Yallahs High 2-0; and Munro College were 2-0 winners over Alphansus Davis High.
At Glenmuir, Dunstin Cohen scored twice, including in time added as the home team beat Clarendon College to join Paul Bogle High at the top of Group 7 on three points.
At Frome, Clinton Bernard scored twice in the first half and Ramondo Eccleston added a third as the host defeated Cedric Titus 3-0. Frome lead Group 2 with three points.
Munro College are the leaders in Group 4 after their win over visitors Alphansus Davis High.
In Group 6, Central High beat Yallahs, while Belair High and Denbigh ended 1-1.