{"id":2376,"date":"2019-05-29T19:46:43","date_gmt":"2019-05-29T19:46:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/westernmirror.com\/?p=2376"},"modified":"2019-05-29T19:47:28","modified_gmt":"2019-05-29T19:47:28","slug":"rovers-cop-major-league-crown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/?p=2376","title":{"rendered":"Rovers cop Major League crown"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Noelita Lawrence-Ricketts<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>A determined Lilliput Rovers defied the underdog tag to punch their ticket to next year\u2019s Western CONFED, with a tantalizing and absorbing 1-0 win over fancied Cambridge, in Saturday\u2019s (May 26) finale at Jarrett Park to claim the St. James FA Sandals Resorts International Major League title.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A goal of\nnothing and totally against the run of play on a defensive mix-up between the\nCambridge goalkeeper and their central defender gifted Rovers the decisive\nvictory as they earned bragging rights and also walked away with the cash prize\nof $200,000, medals and the winners\u2019 trophy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The\nall-important goal from Terrick Dixon proved the difference between the sides\nin the Cambridge-dominated match.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Cambridge,\ndisappointed again in a major match, pocketed $140,000 for their efforts as\nwell as medals, while third and fourth place teams Heights and Violet Kickers,\nsecured 90 and 60,000 dollars respectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Marlon\nBrown of the champions Rovers also walked away with the top award, being named\nthe Most Valuable Player.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Obrian Bent\nwho ended as the League\u2019s leading scorer with 11 goals to his name, was guilty\nof missing at least three clear-cut chances as Cambridge sank to the stinging\ndefeat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Dent\u2019s\nfirst bite at scoring came midway the opening half, but he slipped at the\ncrucial point after getting away from his defensive opponents with a darting\nrun into the area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">His\nclearest chance came just after the hour mark, but he stunningly missed from\ninside the six-yard box when his toe poke was charged down by a diving defender\nat the near post after Dent had powered into the box from inside his half to\nthe opponent\u2019s goal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He later\nrocketed a ferocious shot against the underside of the crossbar from some 18\nyards out, again after racing past a couple of desperately lunging defenders\nwho failed to keep control of his speed throughout.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The killer\ngoal was to come later late in the half and from a lightning attack down the\nleft by the Rovers team who, through Dixon, seized the clear-cut chance,\nlobbing the ball into the back of the net, past an advancing Cambridge\ngoalkeeper caught in an if-and-go play at the back with his central defender.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A determined Lilliput Rovers defied the underdog tag to punch their ticket to next year\u2019s Western CONFED, with a tantalizing and absorbing 1-0 win over fancied Cambridge, in Saturday\u2019s (May 26) finale at Jarrett Park to claim the St. James FA Sandals Resorts International Major League title.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2377,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1112],"class_list":["post-2376","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-sandals-major-league"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2376","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2376"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2376\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2379,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2376\/revisions\/2379"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2377"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2376"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2376"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2376"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}