Treasure Beach reward fans with Tier II title

Long before the 3:30 p.m. kick-off of the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) National Tier II final, their fans from St Elizabeth descended on the Foga Road venue in Clarendon to watch their team, Treasure Beach FC, take on St Ann's Lime Hall Academy FC yesterday.

The St Elizabeth fans made it clear that they would rather watch Treasure Beach play the final than the Reggae Boyz tackle Guatemala, and they were not disappointed, as they triumphed 2-1 to secure the title.

The win was icing on the cake for the Omar Wedderburn-coached Treasure Beach, who with Lime Hall will play Jamaica Premier League (JPL) football next season.

"We planned to win this game for the fans. The qualification to the Premier League was for the management, coaching staff and players, and we told ourselves that we are going to give the fans something to celebrate, and this is it," Wedderburn said.

Those celebrations for the St Bess fans started in the 41st minute when Antwone Smith won a penalty, converted by Donte Campbell.

The celebrations would eventually turn to jeers for the St. Elizabeth fans as they watched as Lime Hall's captain Damani Sewell rose over their defence to head home a right-sided free kick on the stroke of halftime to level the score 1-1.

A stern lecture from Wedderburn during the halftime break saw Treasure Beach returning for the second half firing, and they responded with the go-ahead goal in the 47th minute when vice-captain Kadeem Stone stabbed home from close range following a quick build-up down the right flank.

The Treasure Beach back line was astute in the remaining half but almost gave up the equalising goal in added time, with Rohan Sewell's right-sided shot just inside the area going wide to the delight of the Treasure Beach fans.

For losing coach Alfred Barnett, the loss wasn't a huge deal, having done the main business before the last game of the competition.

"We have achieved the main prize, which is Premier League qualification. They said they wanted the trophy, but this is the glorious game of football," Barnett said.