BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - LIME 4g Cayon Rockets will face SOL Island Auto Conaree in the Final of the St. Kitts-Nevis Football Association’s FA Cup on Friday (Apr. 17) following after their victories in the Semi-Final games last evening (Apr. 8) at Warner Park.
In the first game, Cayon eliminated the holders of the FA Cup, Winners Circle Newtown United, with a convincing 3-nil victory.
After a dull first half in which neither side were able to gain command of the game, the second 45 minutes had seen a much improved competition with the first goal coming through a penalty following a Newton handball.
The spot kick was then smashed home by Javiem Blanchette in the 61st minute with the Newtown goalkeeper diving in the wrong direction.
Following the opening goal, the Newtown side then pressed for an equaliser by creating counterattacking opportunities which saw Cayon pouncing upon and doubling the score with a chip by Blanchette in the 81st minute, all but sealing the fate of their opponents.
The scoring was rounded off in the 90th minute when Nigel Thom slotted home a simple chance to cap off a strong second half by Cayon.
The second games of the night saw a six-goal thriller between SOL Island Auto Conaree and Rams Village Superstars with penalty kicks needed to send the former to the Finals.
In a game that saw a number of outstanding goals, none more so than the opening strike by Conaree’s Glenroy Samuel in the 17th minute that left the goalkeeper reeling.
The crowd was then treated to a brilliant second goal when Tristan Samuel, also of Conaree, capped off a brilliant team move with a curling effort that not only foxed the goalkeeper but also had members of the audience thinking it would have gone out of play.
Conaree ended the first half 2-0 up and were looking in control of the second, but a resilient Village Superstars team got on the board through a strike by Travis Rogers in the 56th minute.
Two minutes later, his brother Kimaree Rogers levelled the score with a strike that sent Village fans into rupture with them running from one end of the stand to the other in delight of the team’s fight back.
Kimaree Rogers then pulled off an acrobatic header following a cross from the right wing in the 69th minute to put his side ahead in what seemed like an improbable comeback.
Conaree however never looked willing to lose the game and equalised with 12 minutes remaining in regulation time through a flicked header by talisman Errol O'Loughlin.
Conaree’s goalkeeper Clifford Samuel was forced into making two crucial late saves that might have been the winning goals.
In the end, the game had to be decided on penalty kicks with both teams scoring their first spot-kicks and both keepers saving each opponent’s second kick.
Samuel however saved the following two kicks and was supported by his teammates scoring theirs and giving Conaree a 3-1 penalty victory.
