Shaquille Smith was the toast of his team-mates as he got a decisive second-half strike to secure a 2-1 win for University of T&T (UTT) over Youth Stars, and with it the $140,000 T&T Football Association National Super League Championship Division title and promotion.
The action unfolded on Saturday evening at the Cyd Grey Sports Complex in Roxborough, Tobago.
Going into the final match day, UTT trailed Cunupia FC (32 points) by three points and just needed a win to grab the title and the lone promotion spot to the Premier Division next season on goal-difference.
Youth Stars, meanwhile also needed full points to avoid relegation back to the Tobago Football Association by finishing in the bottom three clubs.
The spectators hardly had time to get into their seats though when UTT took the lead in the third minute through Dillon Bartholomew but Youth Stars replied eight minutes later thanks to Akeel Sterling as both teams went into the half-time at 1-1.
The defining moment in the contest came in the 63rd minute when Smith regained the lead for UTT, after which it held on for the narrow win to take the crown ahead of Cunupia while Youth Stars (18 points) face an anxious wait to know if it will be relegated.
This after Prisons crushed Central 500 Spartan 5-2 led by a double from Kerry Frederick to end with 20 points while the match between Saddle Hill Hotspur (25) and Petit Valley/Diego Martin United (17) was abandoned in the 73rd minute, with the latter ahead 4-3 a and final outcome will be determined by the league’s disciplinary committee..
As it stands, Carenage United which dropped out of the league a few weeks ago has already been demoted back to the Northern Football Association and will be joined by one from the duo of Youth Stars and Petit Valley/Diego Martin United.
On Wednesday at UTT Ground, O’Meara Road, Arima, UTT trailed Cunupia FC (32 points) by six points with two matches in hand and needed a win versus Saddle Hill Hotspur to keep alive its dream of taking the crown and the lone promotion spot to the Premier Division for next season.
By the half-time whistle, UTT was well on its way as Kevaughn Connell (eighth & 32nd), Bartholomew (17th & 37th) and Theon James (23rd) were all on target for a 5-0 advantage.
Connell then completed his treble in the 55th before former Soca Warriors World Cup striker Stern John got Hotspur on the board in the 58th to trail 6-1.
Bartholomew was next to complete his hat-trick in the 73rd for a 7-1 cushion before Andre Rampersad (80th) and another former T&T international Hector Sam (82nd) scored in quick succession for Hotspur to reduce the deficit to 7-3, only for Smith to add an eighth item for UTT, in the 84th.
In Wednesday’s other match at Barrackpore Recreation Ground, host club, Barrackpore United Sports Club whipped Prisons 5-2 led by a double from Jesse Downing in the second and 12th minutes.
Saturday’s final round of matches also featured a fight for the division’s leading scorer title which in the end went to Youth Stars’ Hakeem Legall ahead with 15 goals closely followed by Barrackpore’s Mikheil Peters and UTT’s Bartholomew, with 13 each.
They are followed by Spartans’ Donavon Derrick (12), Cunupia FC’s Michael Yaw Darko (11), and Connell and Cunupia’s Stevon Stoute with 10 apiece.
As runners-up Cunupia FC will get $100,000, while Spartan take home $80,000 for third spot and Hotspur, $60,000 as fourth placed finishers.
The top five “Players of Year” will each collect $1,500 and the “Most Valuable Player”, $3,000.
Championship Division Standings
Teams P W D L F A Pts
UTT 16 9 5 2 44 20 32
Cunupia 16 10 2 4 38 22 32
Spartans 16 8 2 6 33 30 26
Saddle Hill 15 8 1 6 32 34 25
Barrackpore 16 6 3 7 33 28 21
T&T Prisons 16 5 5 6 28 31 20
Youth Stars 16 6 0 10 34 33 18
P.V/D.M 15 5 2 8 23 33 17
Carenage 16 3 2 11 15 48 11
Results
Saturday:
UTT 2 (Dillon Bartholomew 3rd, Shaquille Smith 63rd) vs Youth Stars 1 (Akeel Sterling 11th)
T&T Prisons FC 5 (Kerry Frederick 73rd, 81st, Anthony Parris 30th, Andy Alves 57th, Roland Walcott Jr 65th) vs Central 500 Spartans 2 (Keron Alexander 15th, Donavon Derrick 74th)
Petit Valley/Diego Martin United 4 vs Saddle Hill Hotspur 3 – Match abandoned in the 73rd minute with Petit Valley/Diego Martin 4-3 ahead
Wednesday:
Barrackpore United SC 5 (Jesse Downing 2nd, 12th, Mikheil Peters 56th, Anton Charles 83rd, Renaldo Jack 85th) vs T&T Prisons 2 (Andy Alves 45th, 87th)
UTT 8 (Kevaughn Connell 8th, 32nd, 55th, Dillon Bartholomew 17th, 37th, 73rd, Theon James 23rd, Shaquille Smith 84th) vs Saddle Hill Hotspur 3 (Stern John 58th, Andre Rampersad 80th, Hector Sam 82nd