Vessigny Secondary added RBTT Intercol favourites Mucurapo Senior Comprehensive to their list of victims yesterday when they shocked the North Zone champions 1-0 to put them out of this year's competition at the semi-final stage.
Kyle Commisiong's 90th minute strike from just outside the 18-metre box on the right was enough to see his team become surprise candidates for next week's National Intercol final.
Up to press time last night, National "Big Five" champs St Augustine Senior Secondary and defending Intercol champs St Anthony's College were locked at 0-0 midway through the first period of extra-time in the other semi-final, the second match of a double-header at the Hasely Crawford Stadium.
Mucurapo have only themselves to blame as they allowed a host of opportunities to slip by and then were caught unawares by what would turn out to be the most crucial play of the match.
After some tense opening minutes for Vessigny, Cyrano Glen got the first real chance of the game with a header that flashed past the far post in the sixth minute.
Mucurapo began an all-out assault on the Vessigny back line, but they simply clustered together as if defending for their lives. Mucurapo did not help themselves much either, rifling several shots wide and directly to Kona Modeste in the Vessigny goal.
Although not too many shots bothered Modeste, most coming from long range, he also had a few brilliant saves to thwart "Compre" and keep the score at 0-0 at the interval.
Vessigny also had some confident dabs at goal, but some simple mistakes prevented them from capitalising, especially as they kept most of their players in defence.
In the second half, both teams played more desperately, but time and again a hard-working Shirvhon Abraham combined strong defending with some sound goalkeeping from Modeste to keep the teams level.
The tactic seemed to only frustrate Mucurapo more, as they began to search for the answer from the outside more frequently, blasting efforts that did not trouble Modeste.
On the other side of the field, the Vessigny attack became more intense, as they themselves looked for the winner.
And just when it seemed like extra time would be needed to separate the teams, Commisiong excited the Vessigny crowd into a frenzy, silencing the Compre fans in the process, as he found reserve 'keeper Damean Rostant's net to send his team into the InterCol final.
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