QUEEN'S Royal College made a desperate bid to pull back a 0-3 half-time deficit but had to settle for a 2-3 loss against arch-rivals St Mary's College in their BWIA Secondary Schools Football League encounter at the Royalians ground yesterday. The visitors went ahead in the 16th minute when James Odogwa ran around goalkeeper Ayinde Abu Bakr following a Scott Sealy pass.
The crafty Sealy trapped and collected the ball almost at the half line, retained control under pressure and passed down the middle to Odogwa, who made no mistake. Eight minutes later the first of two goal keeping blunders occurred when Jeremy Del Pino hammered a free kick from 40 yards and watched it sail over Abu Bakr's head.
In the 29th minute, the keeper muffed a 40-yard shot from Kevin Norman and Odogwa was again on hand to net the Saints third. The Royalians were under pressure for the rest of the half and one would have thought that the two soft goals would have taken the heart out of them.
Not so. Kicking from the east in the second half, they pressed the Saints, having seven shots on goal and two corners before the Saints had their first shot. It was no surprise when QRC registered their first in the 69th minute when Naeem Frederick ran on to a pass through the middle to net a sitter.
In the 89th minute, a free kick was blocked in the wall and Frederick Douglas made no mistake with the rebounding ball. But the Saints had done enough to win without denying the effort of the Royalians. The result left the Saints at the top of the standings with seven points while the Royalians have three points.