Island School spot on to lift title
Island School scored a dramatic late equaliser and won the deciding penalty shoot-out to clinch the 2002 All Hong Kong Schools Jing Ying Football Championship at Mongkok Stadium on Sunday.
Goalkeeper and Most Valuable Player Dominic Doran was Island's hero, saving two penalties and stepping up to score the winner in the shoot-out. With just seconds left on the clock, Jockey Club Ti-I College were leading 1-0 and looked to have secured their third consecutive Jing Ying title.
But Ti-I players seemed to lose their concentration in the dying moments of the game, with Wong Man-ko sent off for a clumsy challenge just outside the penalty box.
From the ensuing free kick, Island won a corner and, with literally the last kick of the match, Omega Co-ed Sportsboy of the Year Daniel Bailey lunged at the cross and stabbed the ball into the net. 'I was there at the far post hoping it would fall to me - I saw the ball coming and connected with it,' Daniel said. Island players reacted wildly to the goal, with their celebrations tinged with an element of surprise that they could score at all after missing so many chances in the last five minutes.
Alex Dando, who scored a hat-trick in the semi-finals, missed a penalty with just three minutes to go.
'We just couldn't get into it,' said team coach Nick Pyke.
'There was no shape at all in the first half, but we kept plugging away and got the goal - but we cut it very close.'
Ti-I will be disappointed that they didn't score a second after dominating most of the match. Ti-I players fell to their knees at the final whistle and were unable to re-focus for the shoot-out.
Their coach Simon Fung Hoi-man was understandably bitter about the sending off.
'He [Man-ko] shouldn't have been dismissed, because he didn't do it deliberately,' Fung said.
