Clinton Corbin scored a hat-trick and former Strike Squad frontman Marlon Morris a double as Belmont Boys’ Secondary (Intermediate) romped to a 6-4 whipping of St Mary’s College on Thursday.
This was in their annual Belmont-St Mary’s Old Boys’ match played at the St Mary’s College Ground, Serpentine Road, St Clair. Watched by a lively crowd that included a number of former national players including Sedley Joseph, Lincoln Phillips and Victor Gamaldo, the trio of Morris, Corbin and Saints’ Dexter Skeene, another ex-national all showed they had not lost their touch with some classy finishing infront of goal.
As early as the seventh minute Belmont went ahead with a strike from Deon Sosa that slipped through the grasp of goalkeeper Fenwick Mills but Skeene, like Morris a Strike Squad member headed the Saints back on level terms within a minute.
Ten minutes later Corbin fired in his first of the match for a 2-1 lead before Morris got his opener to extend the advantage to 3-1. Belmont allowed the Saints to get back into the match when some sloppy goalkeeping from allowed Skeene to score on his first post for a 3-2 scoreline.
But that was as close as Skeene and his team-mates would get as Corbin restored Belmont’s cushion at 4-2 which it carried into the interval.
Within ten minutes of the restart, Morris picked up from where he left off by chipping Mills for a 5-2 lead before former national rugby player Brent Barry hammered a left footer past to put the St Mary’s within two goals once more at 5-3.
Morris then missed two chances to complete his treble, before Corbin blasted a right footer into the roof of the net to complete his hat-trick and push the score to 6-3.
Skeene then hit the base of the right post with a left footed grounder while Barry sprayed the follow up as the Saints pressed for goals.
With two minutes left in the match, Skeene finally scored his third for a 6-4 score, however, in the end Belmont managed to hold onto its two-goal cushion to the delight of large gathering of past students who included calypsonian David Rudder, National Lotteries Control Board chairman Louis Lee Sing.
Other members of the winning Belmont line-up were Wayne Hunte, Brian Sobers, Junior Garcia, Michael Harewood, George Romano and Wayne Dial. For the Saints, Colin Skeene, Ken Butcher and Brian Ghent were among the starters.
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