Cavalier in fourth consecutive JPL final

For the fourth consecutive season Cavalier are in the final of the Jamaica Premier League (JPL), this after dispatching Montego Bay United 2-0 in extra-time of their second leg semi-final, for a 2-1 aggregate win, at the National Stadium on Wednesday night.

The defending champions will face Portmore United in the final. Portmore defeated Mount Pleasant Academy 4-3 on aggregate Wednesday night to reach the final.

   Schoolboy Kimarley Scott scored both goals for Cavalier  to overturn a 1-0 deficit from the first leg.

Cavalier coach Rudolph Speid said, despite being outplayed by Montego Bay  in the first leg, they always knew they were in the tie, they just had to find a way and it came through set-pieces.

"We never thought we were out of it. We just thought we had to win differently. We always try to find a way and this was one of the ways we could win. Set-plays.

"We were getting regular goals from set-plays towards the end of the season and it just carried us home," he said.

"Their (Montego Bay) defence is porous. Sometimes you see them against other teams you can't assess them that well. But, once they played against us, we were able to assess them (much better).

"They dominated us in the first game but not in this one, as we saw weaknesses we could exploit. They have conceded a lot of goals, so we knew we would score," Speid said.

Montego Bay created the bulk of the chances over the 120 minutes. However, it was Scott who broke the deadlock with a header at the near post from Christopher Ainsworth's corner in the 54th minute to give Cavalier a 1-0 lead on the night and a 1-1 aggregate score.

With no winner coming in regulation time, the game went to extra-time, where the diminutive Scott again rose at the near post to turn home another header, again from an Ainsworth corner.

However, Speid was quick to point out that their much improved defence laid the foundation for the victory.

"Captain Giovanni Laing and I had some long discussions about his role in this particular team and what he is supposed to do and we decided near to the playoffs that we were going to clean up the defence and, as you can see, there are marked improvements  and that laid the foundation for Scott to become the hero," he said.

Cavalier lost a number of key figures from last season's title winning team and are in a rebuilding phase  but Speid pointed out that their success is as a result of the mentality they have developed as a club.

  "We lost 18 players from last season and it was a different challenge but we are a family. Everybody loves each other and we work together. We have developed a winning mentality and that is what has carried us over the line."

    Montego Bay's head coach  Xavier Gilbert said his team failed to execute and paid the price.

"I didn't like how we started," Gilbert said. 

 The Montego Bay coach said the plan  was to go after Cavalier early with the aim of  getting another goal and they control  the game but the players failed to carry out the plan. 

"You could say we didn't score any goals (over the two legs - Montego Bay's only goal was an own goal) but we created a lot of good opportunities and they were falling to persons who have scored goals for years at every level. We just didn't execute and that's on us. We had to execute better," Gilbert said.