National U-17 goalkeeper, Linfah Jones was forced to pull her best tricks out of the bag to save defending BGTT InterCol champion, Debe High School from an upset against St Francois Girls College in the Trinidad final of the competition.
The match was played yesterday at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Mucurapo. Debe dragged themselves to a 2-0 victory over the Belmont girls, who outplayed the national champions in every aspect of the game but could not get past the very sturdy brick wall of Jones in the Debe goal.
Jones absorbed a constant wave of attack from the St Francois front line, as the North Zone side dominated the match maintaining the greater share of possession and shots on goal throughout. Under-17 winger, Kayla Taylor, scored both of the Debe goals, despite suffering from severe cramps during the match which saw her perform at only half her best.
In as early as the 12th minute, Taylor collected a through ball in the midfield and took the St Francois defence for a run, before depositing the ball to the far left of the post, out of the reach of St Francois goalkeeper Darya Rodriguez.
Less than ten minutes later, Jones was forced to make a diving save to her left, from a long distance shot taken by Tyrisha Mc Donald. Debe struggled to maintain any ball possession at all, except for Taylor’s solo runs down the right wing on a few occasions, while St Francois looked largely composed and effortlessly passed the ball through the Debe midfield. In the second half, St Francois continued to dominate as Jones was kept on her toes and made to earn her ‘Best Save’ award, which was given to her after the match.
In the 66th minute, St Francois almost slipped the ball into the net, as Jones pushed the ball onto the crossbar but quickly recovered to head the ball clear after it ricocheted and found the feet of a St Francois player. Three minutes later, Taylor was brought down in the penalty area by Chelsea-Marie Spence and Debe was awarded a spot kick, which was easily converted by Taylor.
Asha Jones almost decreased the deficit in the 84th minute, but her shot was saved by Jones who rushed out of her box to make the save. The Intercol champion, will now look to defend its national title when it meets Roxborough Secondary at a date and venue to be announced.
Speaking after the match, Jones downplayed her performance, explaining that it was a team effort and her side has been taking one match at a time and will continue to do so in their remaining finals. Debe and Roxborough will also clash in the Big Four final which is also yet to be scheduled.