FA Cup Final 2002 - Scholars vs GTSC

By Sheena Carten
Caymanian Compass

George Town tore Scholars apart Wednesday night to win the FA Cup 4-0.

The match was set to be a thriller and for the first half it was. Scholars was weak going into the game with a number of key players missing. George Town, on the other hand, was under pressure to win. But the pressure seemed to fuel the players with whatever it took to win because Scholars simply had no answer for them. From the minute the whistle blew Lee Ramoon, Carlos Welcome, Leon Whittaker and Gary Whittaker all took their shots at goal. Scholars was dumbfounded.

First to score was Gary Whittaker 24 minutes in. It started with a classy cross from Lee Ramoon to Garth Anderson who passed onto Whittaker. It was quick.

Goal number two came about 20 minutes later from an amazing free kick by Carlos Welcome. The big number 21 played a fantastic game defying all Scholars' attempts to silence him. His goal is probably one of the best of the season so far. Scholars had a few chances in the half. Antonio Smith had a good run but seemed to defend on his own. Mario Watler had some good runs too and Romeo Thomas battled hard. But the two players who really tried for Scholars were Eric Brown and Lennox "Linky" Bryan. But, it wasn't enough because George Town just kept coming at Scholars.

The second half didn't touch the first. George Town was a bit complacent and eased off a little. Scholars stepped it up a gear and had a few good chances. Again, Eric Brown and Linky featured in these. But George Town always had a re-sponse and was threatening as soon as Scholars missed a chance. Scholars' best chance of the night came from Linky whose shot hit the bar. That was as close as Scholars got. George Town killed all hopes of a comeback 10 minutes before time. Lee Ramoon had the ball, was facing Scholar's keeper Alfredo Whittaker but stepped around him and scored. Number three for George Town. Number four was painful. Whittaker came out a few minutes later to clear the ball but somehow injured himself and stopped. Lee Ramoon saw the open goal and ran on to score. And with that the game was over and George Town, in their own backyard, won their first piece of silverware since 1998. George Town could have scored more but were stopped several times by good keeping from Alfredo Whittaker.

The George Town players and the coach agree it was about time for the win. "We were anticipating victory and we were very confident," George Town coach Joscelyn Morgan said. "The players went the extra mile and we did a lot of high pressure training.
"It feels good to be back in cup winning form." In fairness the entire George Town team played well. They were sharp.

Man of the match, however, must go to defender Neil Murray. While Lee Ramoon had a brilliant game with no Scholars players able to hold him down, Murray was solid from the beginning. Like bad sound quality, you only notice it if it's bad. On Wednesday night Murray didn't put a foot wrong. "We played as well as we could have and went out and did what we had to do," Murray says.
For Scholars, coach Antonio Smith admits that he and his team were caught off guard. "George Town really played bet-ter football. We were lacking in marking - poorly."

It's not the end, says Smith. He's adamant that Scholars will be back and back to win. "Scholars is always in every final and it's hard to stay on top." Smith added, "Even Brazil can't stay on top!"