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Fri, Mar

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The high level of competitiveness in the TT Pro League this season, has led to the two main local football giants CL Financial San Juan Jabloteh and Vibe CT 105 W Connection meeting in the semi-finals of the First Citizens Cup.

Local football fans have grown accustomed to a Jabloteh/W Connection final in most of the knockout competitions—however, this year only W Connection will make that trip to the First Citizens Cup final, as the ‘Savonetta Boys’ dispatched their rivals 2-0 in an exciting, high quality semi-final match up on Friday night at the Manny Ramjohn stadium, Marabella.

W Connection will go into next Friday’s final against North East Stars with the ambitions of becoming the first local club to win the prestigious First Citizens Cup three times in a row, having won the title back to back in 2004 and 2005.
In the semi-final, Technical Director of W Connection Stuart Charles Fevrier believes the confidence the club has placed in its young players this season is now paying off.

After the riveting encounter, he told ‘ttproleague.com’, "I want to congratulate our boys, I am very happy tonight, our young players have showed they have turned the corner and I am hoping they can grow from strength to strength—we have a lot of quality young players in our squad and I hope a few of them can get an opportunity to play for Trinidad and Tobago in the near future."

"Its good to come out on top against Jabloteh, they are a quality team and its really nice to get the better of them twice in a row, this week," said the former national coach. I am looking forward to facing Gally Cummings as coach in the finals—Everald is a coach I have a lot of respect for, I once played under him as a player, and I think he is one of the greatest players in the Caribbean of all time, I have a lot of respect for him both as a player and as a coach."

The St. Lucian born coach continued, "Generally, I have a lot of respect for North East Stars, they are former league winners, so you can never underestimate them, we are expecting a tough game, it’s a final and any body can win."

One of the outstanding men on the night, W Connection’s Brazilian star William Da Silva Oliveria was happy to have contributed to his team’s victory over Jabloteh.

The Brazilian winger scored the opening goal, a beauty of a free kick that beat the outstretched hand of Jabloteh’s custodian Durance Williams.

After the match he told ‘ttproleague.com’, "I am very happy tonight, I worked hard in training and I am always practicing free kicks and it came off tonight and that’s just wonderful for me and for the team."

"It’s a very special moment for me, because against Jabloteh it’s always like a final—so I am very glad I could have played a part in Connection coming out on top."

Oliveria said, "The final against North East Stars will not be easy—but we will be working hard again this week and hopefully we can win again and take away the trophy."

On the other side of the coin, Jabloteh’s head coach Terry Fenwick expressed obvious disappointment, but accepted defeat.

"We dominated the game and they scored on the counter attacks, that’s how it goes sometimes, we created a lot of chances, and I believe the difference between the two teams tonight was W Connection’s goal keeper Jan Michael Williams."

"I thought he was excellent tonight and he was mainly responsible for keeping us out."

The former English international, conceded, "We are disappointed, but we have been involved in the last five cup finals, so this day was bound to come, and we will live to fight another day, and I will certainly like to wish Connection all the best in the final."