Jabloteh whip Ma Pau 3-1.
By: Ian Prescott (T&T Express).
Peter Byers netted the first goal of the new T&T Pro League season to lead defending champions CLICO San Juan Jabloteh to a comfortable 3-1 victory over newcomers Ma Pau yesterday before a very big crowd at the Hasely Crawford Stadium.
By the half, the match looked finished, Jabloteh having taken a commanding 3-0 lead through Byers' brace (6th & 26th) and a Trent Noel penalty (20th), won when speedy striker Gayson Gregory was upended by Kent Guy, the last Ma Pau defender.
But, after a nervous first half, Northerners Ma Pau settled to dominate the second half, in which pressure from striker Cornell Glen forced Jabloteh stopper Karlon Murray to head an own goal in the 63rd minute.
Glen, the Trinidad and Tobago World Cup striker, was among two former Jabloteh players lining up with Ma Pau. The other, dreadlocked Dexter Franklin, held down a central defence position in coach Ron La Forest's team.
The Ma Pau squad also contained a few players with Pro League and National Super League experienced such as goalkeeper Anthony Marshall (ex-Police), Lorne Joseph and Sayid Freitas (both ex-Superstar Rangers).
Having recently returned from a tour of Scotland, Jabloteh did not look like championship material. Missing several of last season's regulars including Khaleem Hyland, Lester Peltier, Dwayne Jack, Wendell Joseph and Atullah Guerra, the champs were thin in midfield and shaky in defence.
But Antiguan Byers, last year's golden boot winner with 15 goals, was eager to score, even straying offside on several occasions.
He got his first in just the sixth minute, racing onto a long punt out of defence and stroking the ball low past keeper Marshall. Later, Gregory, another Antiguan, looked well on the way to adding another goal, twisting past the Ma Pau defence before Guy clumsily knocked him down. Noel converted from the penalty spot, putting Jabloteh into a 2-0 lead.
Ma Pau came closest to scoring in the 36th when Akhel Fairbain struck the bottom of the Jabloteh upright with keeper Cleon John beaten. But, when Byers booted home Elijah Manners' back-flick, Jabloteh were cruising.
The second half marked a total turnaround for Ma Pau, who finally settled down and played the better football. Pulling back to 3-1 after Murray's own goal, Ma Pau should have at least had another goal, but keeper John kept Jabloteh ahead by racing off his line a couple of times to keep the opposing strikers at bay.
YESTERDAY'S T&T PRO LEAGUE RESULTS:
W Connection 4 (Andrei Pacheco 25, Douglas Da Costa 35, Kerron Smith, 87, Atiba McKnight 88) v Tobago United 1 (Collie Hercules 44)
Defence Force 1 v Joe Public 1
San Juan Jabloteh 3 (Peter Byers 6, 26, Trent Noel 20) v Ma Pau SC 1 (Karlon Murray 63-own goal)
St Ann's Rangers 3 v Caledonia AIA 3
North East Stars 1 (Sylvester Teesdale 85) v United Petrotrin 3 (Kennedy Hinkson 31-pen, Jerrol Forbes 38, 52)
