Tiger Tanks Club Sando FC claimed the third-place spot in Group D of the Concacaf Caribbean Shield when they thrashed Metropolitan FA of Puerto Rico 6-1 at the St Kitts and Nevis Technical Centre, on Sunday.
The win came courtesy of a hat-trick from Nicholas Dillon and a goal each from Luke Phillip, Ezekiel Kaser and Nicholas Thomas. The victory means the Southerners have played five matches in the tournament, won four and lost one.
Phillip scored the opener for Club Sando in the 11th minute. Thomas put the T&T team up 2-0 netting in the 30th minute from a free kick.
Carlos Ferrer (39th) managed to pull one back for Metropolitan nine minutes later. However, Kesar continued the onslaught increasing Club Sando's lead in the 44th, putting his team further ahead, 3-1 at the half.
On the resumption, Dillon took over getting his first item and his team's fourth in the 66th minute. He was on the scoresheet again two minutes later moving his team up, 5-1 before netting his third goal in the 88th, to seal a dominating performance by Club Sando.
On Friday night, the local team was stopped in the semifinal of the tournament 2-1 by the Golden Lions of Martinique, which prevented them from qualifying for the next round of the Concacaf tournament. Only the top two teams in the groups earned qualifying berths.
Assistant coach Abdallah Phillips said upon reflection, he was proud of his charges who lost just one match on their journey to the Concacaf Caribbean Shield and it was against a team that was much more experienced than them, having played in the tournament before.
"Even after the loss to the Martiniquan team, the players didn't go into the game against Metropolitan with their heads down, but rather they lifted their game and won handsomely. Really and truly you couldn't have asked for better from the young lads who fell short only to experience," Phillips explained.
"Looking forward, we want to return to the next season of the T&T Premier Football League and qualify again so they can have another chance against those Concacaf teams," Phillips noted.
Meanwhile, the final of the group between the Golden Lions and Robinhood of Suriname was in action up to press time Sunday night.