Adrian Frater, News Editor

WESTERN BUREAU:

FROME TECHNICAL High School, the 2003 champions, created the first upset of the inter-zone round of the ISSA/Pepsi/ Digicel daCosta Cup yesterday when they surprised Ben Francis Knockout champions St. James High 3-2 in their Group One fixture at the Frome Sports Ground in Westmoreland.

Frome Tech, who took an early 2-0 lead and stayed in control until the final whistle, scored through Hugo Hall, Xavian Palmer and Inique Findlay while St James, who lost for the first time in all competitions this season, got their goals from Nicholi Barrett and Allan Ottey.

"Once we got those two early goals we knew it was all over," said Godfrey Drummond, the coach of Frome Technical. "They came at us in the second half but we held out well defensively," he said.

In the other high-profile game out in western Jamaica, the big Group Two match-up between 11-time champions Cornwall College and eight-time champions Rusea's ended in 0-0 stalemate. Cornwall College's captain, Mikhail Weatherley, was shown the red card for two bookable offences.

"We came here with the intention not to lose and we achieved that objective," said Rusea's coach, Anthony 'Follies' Williams. "All we need to do is win our next two games and we should be alright."

Dinthill, who suffered a humiliating 4-0 loss to St James High in last Saturday's Ben Francis KO final, returned to their winning ways in fine style in their Group Six assignment against Annotto Bay, spanking them 4-0 at Clembhard Park.

In the second game of the Clembhard Park doubleheader, Bog Walk opened their account in Group Five with a good 1-0 win over more fancied St Mary Technical. The win has now made them the favourites to top the group.

Second game

In the second game of the Group One doubleheader at Frome, Godfrey Stewart and Cedric Titus played to a 0-0 draw.

In a surprise result, Glenmuir High School, who came into the inter-zone round as one of the teams fancied to advance to the quarter-finals, were upstaged 2-1 by Paul Bogle in their Group Six clash.

St Thomas Technical also pulled off an upset, scoring a surprise 2-1 win over highly-fancied Old Harbour in their Group Five game. The loss was Old Harbour's first of the season in the daCosta Cup.

YESTERDAY'S RESULTS

Godfrey Stewart 0 Cedric Titus 0, Frome 3 St James 2, Grange Hill 2 Marcus Garvey 0, Manchester 1 Christiana 0, Spalding 0 Bellefield 0, Lacovia 2 Clarendon College 1, Lennon 2 STETHS 1, Dinthill 4 Annotto Bay 0, Bog Walk 1 St Mary Tech 0, St Thomas Technical 2 Old Harbour 1, Paul Bogle 2 Glenmuir 1, Cornwall 0 Rusea's 0.