Vessigny, Benedict’s advance in InterCol showdown.
By: Mikhail Greene (Newsday).[/size]
Vessigny Government Secondary made light work of their first round RBTT Intercol fixture when they scored an easy 3-0 victory over Mayaro Composite yesterday at the Manny Ramjohn Stadium, Marabella.
Not even the spirited efforts of the Mayaro rhythm section could help their team on this day as Vessigny, last year’s national runners-up asserted their dominance over the majority of the 90 minutes. Akeem Collins set the tone early for the "boys by d’ sea" by registering a double within the first 20 minutes before he was taken off just minutes before the half.
Moments after Collins made his departure, Khalil Commissiong then added a third item for good measure as PSAEL sponsored boys went into the interval with a three goal advantage. Vessigny appeared to be on cruise control in the second session as they did just enough to ensure that there would be no comeback for Mayaro.
They now advance to meet St Benedict’s college who scored four goals to crush Moruga 4-1. The evening’s second match should have been dubbed the "Matthew Bartholemew Show" as the midfielder had a part to play in all of his team’s goals.
Moruga momentarily stunned the ‘Beneticts’ supporters by going ahead in the 10th minute via Solomon Brerton goal. But their celebrations would be short lived as St Benedict’s stormed back with goals by Jamal Penny in the 16th and Muhajir Ar-Razi in the 34th, both products of Bartholomew crosses.
The long haired midfielder then exchanged his passing shoes for a pair of scoring boots at the interval as he proceeded to score a double in the second half to put the match out of Moruga’s reach.
The team from Deep South clearly had no answers for Bartholomew but will have a long time to try and figure out what went wrong as their season came to an abrupt end yesterday.
Three matches were contested in the Central Zone, with Marabella annihilating Union Claxton Bay 15-1 in the second match of a double-header at the Ato Boldon Stadium in Couva.
The first match at the venue saw Chaguanas getting the better of Tabaquite 2-1, with Anjel Garcia’s effort in vain for the losers. At the Presentation College Ground in Chaguanas, Carapichaima crushed Gasparillo 7-0 to advance to the Central Zone "semis", which will take place on Wednesday.
Four matches will be played today, in the South, East and Tobago Zones.
At the Manny Ramjohn Stadium, Princes Town meet Fyzabad at 3 pm followed by the clash between Naparima and Presentation San Fernando. Hillview will face Malabar at the Larry Gomes Stadium in Arima from 4 pm while, simultaneously, Bishop’s clash against Mason Hall in Shaw Park, Scarborough.
Yesterday's InterCol results[/b]
South Zone
Vessigny 3 (Akeem Collins 2, Khalil Commissiong) v Mayaro 0
St Benedict's 3 (Kendall Penny, Manasir Ar-Razi, Matthew Bartholomew 2) v Moruga (Soloman Brereton).
Central Zone
Chaguanas 2 v Tabaquite 1
Marabella 15 v UCB 1
Carapichaima 7 v Gasparillo 0
‘Fyzo’ start South title defence today.
By: Mikhail Greene (Newsday).[/size]
Fyzabad Composite begin the defence of their 2004 South Zone RBTT Intercol title against Princes Town Senior Secondary in the first match of a double-header at the Manny Ramjohn Stadium, Marabella today.
This season "Fyzo" failed to build on the previous year’s success as they struggled with inconsistency all season long and finished the season in fifth place just as they did last year.
While they boasted victories over Vessigny and St Benedict’s, they were only able to muster a solitary point in two matches against lowly Moruga.
Team manager Eric Lange is convinced that if his team is to repeat as South Zone champs, they must perform to their ability more consistently and would require huge efforts from their forwards Bevon Dass and Andre Quashie.
After a promising start to the season, Princes Town have fallen on hard times and have limped to the finish of the season with a three-match losing streak.
Despite their recent struggles, team manager Louis Bobcombe insists his team would be "no walkover" in Intercol but admits that it would require a team effort if they were to turn around their season and advance deep into this year’s tournament.
The second match of today’s double-header renews one of the biggest rivalries in schools football with Presentation College coming up against league champs Naparima.
Presentation, once among the elite of secondary schools football teams, have fallen off lately and spent the last two seasons in the doldrums of the senior division.
They return to the championship division next year after winning the senior league and will get their first taste of Intercol football in two years as they battle "Naps" today.
A team who had an unbeaten season capped off by winning the "Big 5" title less than a week ago should not be overly concerned about playing against a senior grade team.
This is different.
"Pres" is not your typical underachieving eight seeded team. They too boast an undefeated 2005 season (albeit against much weaker opponents) and in a friendly encounter two Saturdays ago, the boys from Carib Street left a bad taste in the mouths of Naparima faithful when they unofficially handed them their first defeat of the season.
Naparima team manager Richard Nagaur said that the team is "confident but not overconfident" going into first round match against "Pres".
He insists that they have a score to settle with the senior grade champs and are approaching the match seriously knowing that Pres would be on a high after getting the better of their team in the friendly.
Presentation College Technical Co-ordinator Terrence Boissiere describes his team as being "quietly confident" going into today’s encounter and is hoping for a win that would mean a lot to a school body recently starved of football success.
