Luton Shelton was drained after only 45 minutes of action upon his return from a lengthy injury layoff.
But the striker was clearly satisfied as his boyhood club Harbour View FC — boosted by his first-half goal — came from behind to clip fellow former champions Tivoli Gardens FC 2-1 in the Red Stripe Premier League encounter at National Stadium on Monday.
“I’ve been out of the game for the last two years because of injury and now I’m working on my fitness and my confidence to get back,” Shelton, who most recently played for FC Volga in Russia between 2013 and 2015, said after Monday’s win.
“While trying to get back into the game, I said I might as well play for Harbour View to try to help them and also see how much I can get from it. For a first game back it feels very good, and as a striker you always want to get that first goal and after that it becomes easier,” he added.
Shelton, 31, offered little threat throughout his time on the pitch, as he loped about, obviously lacking confidence and fitness following a problematic knee injury.
While lacking the blistering pace that helped him become the Reggae Boyz all-time scoring leader with 35 goals, Shelton soon had a telling impact in his comeback game.
Crafty off-the-ball movement came to the fore when he peeled away from the defence to direct a looping header into the goal to cancel Tivoli’s opening goal from fellow veteran Jermaine Johnson.
Shelton, who sustained a knock, was substituted at the break. However, a second-half strike from Kemar Bennett assured Harbour View all three points and condemned former leaders Tivoli to their second-straight loss.
“It wasn’t a very good game for me because I just started back playing this week, so I don’t have much fitness. It was good to get the goal and I know the rest will come after,” the former schoolboy star explained.
Shelton, who has also played in Sweden, England, Norway, Denmark and Turkey, is one of several Harbour View stalwarts who have returned to help the struggling former champions.
Sean Fraser and Akeem Priestly were on the scoresheet as Harbour View outscored Portmore United 3-2 last week.
“It feels very good because we are way down in the table and we have got some experienced players to come in and give their input. It’s the experience that was needed, because we had a lot of young kids before but now we are able to win,” Shelton said
Harbour View, who have lost 10 of their 23 games so far this season, have achieved two successive wins. They are eighth in the 12-team table with 27 points.
Clandon Strikers have the early lead in the Jamalco-sponsored Manchester Division One after being the only team to score two wins from two matches played so far.
Clandon beat Starz Academy 2-0, to add to their opening 1-0 win over New Green to move to six points.
Seven other teams are on three points. In other results from the second round, New Green, with a goal from Owen Whyte's (25th minute), rebounded with a 1-0 win over Silent Hill, and Old England tagged Trinity United 2-0.
Porus were displaced as the sole leaders of the Manchester Football Association Magnum/Captain's Bakery Major League after they were clipped 1-0 by Comfort. Torchon Dwyer scored the only goal of the match.
The huge movers of the sixth round were Alligator Pond who handed newcomers Star Zone a 4-0 baptism. Dane Seaton began the rout in the 20th minute for a 1-0 lead at half time. Three goals followed in the second half, with Romaine Samuda making it 2-0 in the 62nd minute then Oshane Nelson slammed in the third in the 65th and Kamarlo Dixon completing the scoring in the 72nd. This win has propelled Alligator Pond FC into the top position in the table on goal difference as the first half of the preliminary round ends,
Villa United who are in striking distance with 10 points, continued the wretched run of former multiple Manchester champions Mile Gully by beating them 2-1. Ajani Laylor found the first goal for Villa United in the 12th minute with team mate Calvin Matthie finding the net in the 30th minute. Defender Ronald Taylor's (75th minute) got the consolation strike for Mile Gully.
St Bess and Tru-Juice tightened their grip at the top of the preliminary stage standings of the South Central Super League following wins last weekend.
Both have kept the joint lead on points for the past three rounds with St Bess clinging on by goal difference. Both are now on 23 points. St Bess added to Kemps Hill's relegation woes by handing them a 3-1 defeat while Tru-Juice ended Black Star's semi-final hopes with a 2-1 win.
Another St Catherine team, Dunbeholden has now seriously entered the fray for a semi-final spot by defeating Manchester's Hillstars 3-1. Holland PYC's 3-2 win over Downs again exposed the weakness of Manchester-based teams at this level this season, The only Manchester team to avoid defeat in the past round was Ricam who managed a 1-1 effort against Clarendon's New Bowens, who are in the bottom four.
Royal Lakes and G.C. Foster shared eight goals as the former ran out 5-3 winners in last Sunday's FLOW St Catherine Major League.
The win saw Royal move up the table in Zone A to third on 20 points.
Meanwhile, Old Harbour Bay (24 points) took over sole leadership of Zone A after a clinical 2-1 win over Frazsiers Whip. The victors got their goals through Tajay Baker and Devroy Gray. Gray is the competition's leading goalscorer with 10 goals. In other games, Portsmouth surprised Zone B leaders, Christian Pen (19 points) 1-0; Zone A second place club, Federal United (23 points) were held goalless by De La Vega City and Newland defeated New Raiders 3-1.
Braeton United and Southborough FC will square off in the final of the York Pharmacy-sponsored Portmore Division two Football League following semi-final wins last Sunday.
Braeton avenged a 3-0 loss to Edgewater a couple of weeks ago with a shock 1-0 elimination of Edgewater the number one seed, while South Borough clipped Racing United 2-1.
The final will be played tomorrow at the Cedar Grove Estate Sports Complex. Kick-off time is 3:30 p.m.
Jamaica’s beach soccer team has advanced to the quarter finals of the CONCACAF Beach Soccer Championships despite going down 3-2 to hosts Bahamas earlier in Nassau.
The Jamaicans got their goals through Rohan Reid and Daemion Benjamin.
Captain Andre Reid said that it was a really tough game.
“I said to my coach earlier today that this is a game where if they beat us, it has to be a referee’s decision and it came right down to that,” he said.
The Jamaicans conceded a free kick in the third minute of the game and Reid describes it as being like giving up a penalty, because of the size of the playing area and how close it was to goal.
“We still go through even though we were playing to top the group but now we’ll just wait for the draw tomorrow and use the day to rest,” Reid told The Gleaner.
The Bahamians have won the group with 7 points and the Jamaicans finished runners up, tied on 3 points with Guyana but advanced with a better goal difference. Belize have finished in last place on 1 point.
The Beach Boyz will play their quarter final match on Friday, although they do not yet know their opponents.
Je-Vaughn Watson can’t seem to get over Jamaica’s inglorious elimination from the Russia 2018 World Cup qualifying campaign.
When this tough, no-nonsense competitor bleeds so much from an ugly memory, it must have touched a delicate nerve.
“It hurts a lot because every time I get called to camp it plays on my mind how we could have made it to the next round, or whenever I watch it on TV I keep wondering what we could have done better to be in that round.
“Even last night (Wednesday) when I got here (in Tennessee) I was thinking about it, I just can’t believe that we are not in the campaign to go the next World Cup, but you know it’s football and things happen. We have to just push on and make sure we don’t make the same mistakes again,” he lamented.
The Dallas FC toughman, who is on loan to New England Revolution of the US Major League, has his own ideas why a relatively strong Jamaica team finished miserably at the bottom of their group in the fourth round of the CONCACAF qualifiers.
“I think preparation had a lot to do with it as when you look around the team everybody was friends, the camaraderie in the team was good.
“But I think in the end the preparation wasn’t good because football is getting bigger where preparation doesn’t only mean going on the field and play, but you have to watch videos of your opponents, getting to places on time,” said the former Central Academy standout.
But Watson says he has seen some positive signs since Theodore Whitmore assumed the head coach role, which could head off a recurrence of some of the negatives of the past.
“Since ‘Tappa’ came in we see some changes as he is making sure that every tool we need we have and everyone has their job description,” the attacking midfielder told the
Jamaica Observer.
As team captain and elder statesman, Watson’s role in the team has grown more important, especially that a lot of young local-based players have been injected, as Whitmore plots the course forward.
“My role is very important as I have been around for a long time and I have been trying to show the guys the ropes and trying to instil discipline and proper work ethics for everybody.
“As the elder player I am here to guide the others and make sure some rules are followed, as you know off the field activity is just as important as on the field,” Watson said.
Watson, 33, will lead the Reggae Boyz into battle today against old foes the USA in a friendly international at Finley Stadium with kick-off set for 7:00 pm.
And when he does he knows that it is a position he will not be able to hold to forever, but he intends to keep moving to the Reggae Boyz beat as long as his legs will take him.
“I will push as long as possible, as long as my body holds up and my mind is there, but this a game and you could get hurt and it’s all over.
“But I will just be trying to stay fit, injury-free and work hard, and I will always be trying to make my country proud every time I go on the field and I will always be ready to represent my country when called upon,” said the former Houston Dynamo man.
With some six years playing professionally in the USA, Watson, affectionately called ‘Akka’, noted that he was happy with his stint with New England Revolution, but aims to score more goals in the coming season.
“It’s been good since I have been with them last March, and played a couple of games and scored eight goals overall, but it has been a good experience playing for them.
“I am now hoping this year I can get more goals as I like scoring goals. Right now we are in preseason and the coach is good and the players are good, so I am just looking forward to the new season,” Watson ended.
Lloyd Lindbergh "Lindy" Delapenha (5 May 1927 – 26 January 2017) was a Jamaican footballer and sports journalist. He was an old boy of the prestigious boys' school Munro College in Jamaica where he was a football player. He was the first Jamaican to play professional football in England.
Footballing career - The Spot Kick King
Above alongside team mate Bosco Jankovic at 'Boro.
After a phenomenal performance as a schoolboy athlete, taking part in 16 events over a one-and-a-half-day period, he served with the British Armed Forces in the Middle East following World War II. During his service, an English football scout saw him playing football for the British army.
This gained him a trial with Arsenal, but he did not sign for the club, and in April 1948 he joined Portsmouth. There, he became the first Jamaican to play professional football in England. Although it is claimed he was the first non-white player to appear in the English Football League First Division, he was actually predated by several other non-white players, including Arthur Wharton, who played a First Division match for Sheffield United as far back as 1894-95.
He went on to win a league championship medal with Portsmouth in 1948. In April 1950, after a successful few years with Portsmouth, he transferred to Middlesbrough where his career took off. He played on the wing or inside-forward, and became Boro's leading scorer in the 1951-52, 1953–54 and 1955–56 seasons. In total he scored 93 league and FA Cup goals in 270 appearances.
He moved to Mansfield Town in June 1958, contributing 27 goals in 115 appearances over two years, before retiring from League football in 1960.
Delapenha played non-league football, Hereford United and Burton Albion. He won the Southern League Cup in 1964 with Burton.
He moved back to Jamaica in 1964.
Broadcasting career
Having returned home, Delapenha played cricket for a short time and represented Boys' Town at football, taking them from Division 3 up to Division 1. Soon after though, he became director of sports at the Jamaica Broadcasting Corporation.
At the JBC, he had various roles including co-ordinating coverage of cricket, the Commonwealth Games, and helped bring international football to Jamaica. He stayed there for 30 years before JBC was sold and his services were no longer required.
He died on 26 January 2017 at the age of 89, after a stroke.
Recent Mentions:
Spanish star Alvaro Negredo is set to add his name to an impressive list of centre-forwards – all of them foreigners – who have graced the Boro front line over the last 20 years or so.
It’s all part of a general belief throughout the Riverside, stretching all the way up to chairman Steve Gibson, that you need a top striker to provide pitch presence if you want to keep pace with the big boys.
In modern times it started with the Italian battering ram, Fabrizio Ravanelli, in 1996, and continued through such household names as Alen Boksic, Mark Viduka, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Yakubu.
There were others who fell by the wayside, the obvious one being Brazilian flop Afonso Alves.
Yet it’s become something of a Boro tradition to bring in top foreign forwards to show that the club means business.
Hopefully it will mean goals, but such top strikers also inspire the squad as a whole, and put bums on seats.
Naturally you have to pay over the odds for these big-name forwards. If they can fit into the team and produce the goods then it is money well spent.
In fact you must speculate to accumulate in the Premier League. Norwich City didn’t over-extend themselves last season in the top flight and were relegated at the first attempt.
Boro have never been afraid to bring in non-English stars, of course. They were masters at exploiting the Scottish market before the Second World War, when Boro’s directors regularly made successful border raids.
In the 1950s, Jamaican-born striker Lindy Delapenha scored 93 goals in 270 Boro appearances and was a popular player with the fans.
Open Thread
Reggae Boy Errol Stevens, who now plays for Hai Phong FC in farflung Vietnam, wants to use his early struggles as a source of motivation for aspiring Jamaican footballers.
The 30-year-old striker who last played for Jamaica in 2012 posted a video on Facebook highlighting his difficulties in securing a contract in Thailand, where he was subjected to unpleasant circumstances, which included living a cramped apartment with no furniture or appliances.
“In 2013 I got a link with an agent and went to Thailand. The agent promised a sure contract, as they always promise. So when I reached we (Dicoy Williams) didn’t have anywhere to stay. When I left Jamaica I don’t have a dollar in my pocket, or maybe around US$50,” Stevens revealed in his video.
He continued: “The man (agent) send we go four or five teams in the space of two weeks and Thailand big. Me and Dicoy drive from one city to the other for about five hours.”
Stevens said when Williams and himself reached the club, the coaching staff was not expecting them and thought they were stowaway Africans.
“So at the same time the transfer market a close down and we never get no team. But we ended up training with a little one team and Ding (Williams) never got to train because the man say is just a striker him want,” he noted.
The former Portmore United, Harbour View and Arnett Gardens striker said if it wasn’t for a video he made of himself while playing for Jamaica, he wouldn’t have got the chance to train.
“I just finished playing with Jamaica in 2012, so I did make a little YouTube video and a that make me even get on the field. I showed the man (boss) and he saw that it was the same person. So he told the coach to put me in for 20 minutes. We ended up winning the match 6-2 and I scored two and set two. So when that finished we just leave and go back where the man have we a stay,” said Stevens.
Being frustrated with all the travelling and no trial, Williams said he was heading back to Jamaica. But not Stevens, as he was determined to see it out despite the adverse conditions.
“So Dicoy said he was going home because it was a joke thing and a waste a time. But I was thinking the same thing. But I said, ‘Ding, I don’t have anything to go home to. I am broke like dog. Nothing. So me not going home until I get something,” he pointed out.
Stevens, who had a short stint in Russia FC Khimki in 2009, was sent on another trial at another club.
“But the team that I went to before called the agent and said bring the ‘baller come’; we want to sign him. So I ended up there and signed for around US$2,000. I couldn’t do any better. If they did tell me US$1,000 I would take it,” said a desperate Stevens.
The powerful striker, who is known for his pace and trickery, signed for Saraburi FC in Thailand, which is over 10,000 miles from Jamaica. In addition to that, he was faced with a foreign language and an alien culture.
“The man carry me go a little apartment — is only a mat on the ground. An empty room with a mat that you brush off you foot on,” Stevens emphasised.
“In my mind I was saying the situation grim and I could walk leave it. But at the end of the day, I said nothing not at yard (Jamaica),” he noted.
“But I said I born at Portmore Lane, and up to when I was eight years old a pit toilet we were using. So I said this is the least,” he added.
“The house that I was in I have to be paying rent for it and it has nothing in it, and I have to find food and everything same way. I have to find travelling to go training. So literally when they pay me at month time, all the money spend back in the country. It was five bills US (US$500) I could save after six months. I scored six goals in 14 matches in that six months. They gave me a next contract with just five bills more. So I ended getting US$2,500 (about $300,000) and I couldn’t turn it down,” said Stevens.
He ended with 16 goals in 40 games after he was snapped up by Vietnamese club Hai Phong in 2014, and to date he has banged in 24 goals from 49 games.
Married to a Russian he met in Thailand, and only recently welcoming a baby son to his family, Stevens is enjoying his time in Asia. He’s also enjoying his time on the pitch as well, where he has formed a lethal partnership with former Harbour View player Andre Fagan.
“So I am just showing people that from there until now I don’t go back at Jamaica. I ended coming to Vietnam, much, much better situation, and as you can see my life dramatically changed. I am just showing that sometimes you have to put your pride aside and no matter how small you have to start, is a start,” said Stevens.
“My story is nothing great, but I can take care of my family and make life better,” he added.
![[Image: delaphena.jpg]](https://footballjamaica.com/assets/delaphena.jpg)
Lloyd Lindbergh "Lindy" Delapenha (5 May 1927 – 26 January 2017) was a Jamaican footballer and sports journalist. He was an old boy of the prestigious boys' school Munro College in Jamaica where he was a football player. He was the first Jamaican to play professional football in England.![[Image: Delapenha-Jankovic.jpg]](https://footballjamaica.com/assets/Delapenha-Jankovic.jpg)
![[Image: Lindy-Delapenha.jpg]](https://footballjamaica.com/assets/Lindy-Delapenha.jpg)
Having returned home, Delapenha played cricket for a short time and represented Boys' Town at football, taking them from Division 3 up to Division 1. Soon after though, he became director of sports at the Jamaica Broadcasting Corporation.