Allien Whittaker saved two penalties and scored one of his own for Jamaica to beat China 5-4 in the penalty shoot-out and win the Lunar New Year Cup. - file

so kon po, hong kong (cmc)

Substitute goalkeeper Allien Whittaker emerged hero for Jamaica as they beat China 5-4 on penalties to win the Lunar New Year Cup at the Hong Kong National Stadium yesterday.

After a 0-0 deadlock even after extra time in the tournament decider, Whittaker scored Jamaica's fourth penalty kick and made saves on China's fourth and sixth efforts to snatch a gripping win for the Caribbean side.

Whittaker, Adrian Reid, Jermaine Taylor, and Lovel Palmer had rallied Jamaica back into contention at 4-4 from the five regulation penalty shoot-out kicks — after Nicholay Finlayson had missed Jamaica's first spot kick.

Donovan Davis, of Portland club St. George's, then scored a cool left-footer with Jamaica's first kick of the sudden-death shoot-out after Houliang Wan had his effort brilliantly saved by Whittaker.

In the third-place play-off, Australia beat Hong Kong League XI 5-3 on penalties after a full-time 2-2 draw.