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‘The 15-second goal shook us up a bit’ - Penwood stun KC with early goal in Manning Cup clash
September 10, 2024
Many-time champions Kingston College (KC) got an early shocker from Penwood High and never quite recovered in their ISSA WATA Manning Cup football match yesterday that finished 2-2 at Maverley playing field in St Andrew.
Penwood High, the home team, stunned the overwhelming favourites with just 15 seconds gone is the first half when Javanny Bullock bulldozed through KC's defence right from the kick-off and fired a shot past Dominic Robinson in goal, to give his team the lead.
"The 15-second goal shook us up a bit, and we took some time to settle down," admitted Kingston College's coach, Vassell Reynolds. "We panicked and that was way too early to panic. And then we started to chase the game.
"We scored the equaliser and thought we would settle but we conceded a second one before we really got going," he recapped.
The 'Purples' created a number of scoring chances before eventually levelling the score in the 37th minute when Deshawn Byfield stabbed home a rebound.
However, Jason Keyes headed home Lamar Robinson's cross to restore Penwood's advantage less than a minute after the restart.
The Robert Garwood-coached Penwood kept their more fancied rivals at bay up to the 90th minute, when Matrim Martin capitalised on a miscalculated backpass to goalkeeper Richard Johnson, and Byfield collected the rebound and slotted home his second goal, one minute into added time.
Reynolds said that in the second half they gave everything and played well enough to have won the game.
"We created chances but my concern is the way we conceded. We gave up two silly goals. But credit to Penwood, they employed tactics to run down the time and it frustrated and disrupted our rhythm.
"If this is to come (result), let it come now. It's an early wake-up call. Your first encounter, no matter the team you are playing against, there are always going to be jitters," Reynolds continued.
"We got one point today. We expected three. It is a setback but we will be fine. We will get rid of this as soon as possible and (get) ready for our next game on Saturday."
Despite giving up that late equaliser, Garwood said their form from the preseason is coming to fruition and he hopes this result can inspire them to greater things this season. In fact, the coach is optimistic his team can advance to the second round.
"We started out saying we want to qualify from the zone first. That is our first objective and we are taking it one match at a time," he said
"We are glad we got one of the favourites to play in our first game. And KC were asking questions because we did well in our preseason and it was proven today, the questions they were asking they were really concerned and we should have won they game," Garwood said.
Nevertheless, he is pleased with how his team played.
"(The) performance was good. I like the performance. Defensively, we have to do some work and I will go back to the drawing board defensively and do some work. But the attacking part of the team is very good," he added.
