Faulkland off to winning start

Gregory Palmer, coach of Faulkland FC, is pleased with the way his boys played in their first ever playoff game. The western Jamaica team registered a 2-1 victory over Downs FC in their JFF Premier League playoffs at WesPow Park on Sunday.

Peter Campbell got the early breakthrough for Faulkland in the 13th minute, before Radcliff Dawkins doubled the lead four minutes from the break.

Coming out for the second half, the host seemed to have lost some intensity and that allowed Downs to take control of the game. This led to Romaine Samuda cutting the deficit for the visitors in the 68th minute. However, despite a further dominant half from the Manchester-based club, Faulkland managed to hold on to the three points.

“It’s always good to get two early goals and then the guys showed character in defending,” Palmer said. “We had two defenders that got injured. Steven (Hood) got a knock in his ankle and Gary Taylor felt something in his thigh. We didn’t want to chance it so we had to take them out. You know that changed the nature of the game but everyone put in a team effort even though Downs got back a goal.”

Palmer’s team will travel to the Wembley Excellence Centre in Hayes, Clarendon, to battle Vere United for their next game.

“We have some things to work on so we will look to make these adjustments in training and then see what happens come Wednesday. We saw them play Wadadah, so tactically we will be looking to get that spot on, also we will need to get the mental aspect right because we will be travelling,” he said.

Wadadah, the other western team in the playoffs, won 2-1 over Baptise Alliance of St Thomas last Saturday. They now have four points from two games, having secured a point in their first game against Vere on May 22.

Daniel Ricketts, coach of Wadadah, said Saturday’s win could give his team confidence going into their first away fixture tomorrow. That game will see Wadadah taking on Molynes United FC at the Constant Spring Complex.

“After each win, we have to be pleased because it brings confidence and we needed confidence going into Kingston on Wednesday,” Ricketts said.

“No, we don’t know much about the Molynes team. We just have to cautious at first and then from there on make adjustments as to what we can do to get the better of them,” he added.