Showing great fight and determination, the West marched home with the championship trophy after defeating a powerful East squad during an exciting -- if goal barren -- Secondary Schools All-Star match last night.

A solitary strike by West forward Devon Lambert of Warwick Secondary scarcely a minute into the second half proved enough to decide the clash in favour of the defending champions, much to the chagrin of their eastern counterparts.

A free-kick deep on the left side was curled away from east goalkeeper Adrian Burrows by Vernon Tankard to an unmarked Lambert, 10 yards out at the far post, who rose above the defence and placed a perfect header into the back of the net.

The score knocked the stuffing out of the East bunch, which had dominated virtually the entire first period, as Berkeley's Damon Ming wreaked havoc up front, while Corey Dowling tortured his marker with several weaving runs up the middle.

However, the West held firm, especially goalkeeper Thomas Smith, who was called on to make a number of tough saves.

Meanwhile, Smith's team-mate Damon Francis almost singlehandedly kept his side in the game, showing great energy alternating between the attack and defence.

Francis would receive the loudest cheers at the end, as he emerged as the most valuable player for the victorious West -- Dowling received the honour for the East.

"I'm very proud of them, they played their hearts out,'' said West coach Mark Thorne afterward. "It was a little nerve-wracking in the beginning as we weren't playing good defence. At half-time we (coaching team) made adjustments and told them to pick it up and work it out and they did.

"They always believed in themselves and it was just a matter of doing things as they had in practice, things which they were not doing in the first half.'' East: A.Burrows (D.Fubler 83 mins); J.Marshall (V.Phillips 77 mins), H.Hunt, D.Thomas, D.Zuill, C.Dowling, S.Simmons (K.Smith 56 mins), E.Bean, K.Dill, W.Place (S.Fahy 63 mins).

West: T.Smith (I.Morrison 83 mins); M.Williams, K.Dill, K.Hollis (T.Flood 71 mins), C.Lewis, V.Tankard, R.Carruthers (D.McHugh 56 mins), D.Lambert (T.Robinson 51 mins), D.Francis, M.Butterfield, M.Simons (K.Zuill 48 mins).

Referee: Esten Curtis Most Valuable Players: Corey Dowling (East), Damon Francis (West).

East 0 West 7 A lightning start combined with accurate shooting spurred an energetic West squad to victory during the curtain-raiser involving the Primary Schools All-Stars.

In a match laden with action -- most by the dominant West -- witnessed a pair of hat-tricks, one from West Pembroke's Raymond Beach, while Nasir Wade of West End also netted three times. The remaining tally came from Gilbert Institute's Khyon Smith.

Such was the early domination of the West, who entered as defending champions, that the score stood at 3-0 after a scant 10 minutes and by the half the advantage had increased to 5-0.

Just two further goals were added in the second half as the West eased up the pressure, allowing their opponents to come more into the match.

"The first 11 -- starting line-up -- really set the tone and defensively they did a fantastic job,'' said West coach Jay Tucker afterward. "It was definitely a team effort and it would be unfair to single out any one player in particular.''