They always seem to be overawed when it comes to the knockout competitions, but this year the ‘Boys from Sangre Grande’ have come of age.
North East Stars will contest their first ever First Citizens Cup final on Friday 29 September against the defending champions Vibe CT 105 W Connection.
The Sangre Grande Stars came out on top of a nerve-wrecking semi-final against San Fernando Starworld Strikers last Friday at the Mannie Ramjohn stadium. The game ended 1-1 at the end of regulation time and North East came away 3-2 winners in the penalty shootout to earn their place in the grand final.
The entire Sangre Grande camp was elated following their semi-final encounter, leading North East Stars player Kendall Velox could not hold back his joy.
He told ‘ttproleague.com’, "These are the moments we live for and I am very pleased with the final outcome and I am looking forward to the final.
"Both teams played hard, but I believe we deserve to be winners on the night."
The Vincentian midfielder, continued, "We never gave up, we stuck to our tactical plans—and we were not worried even when it came down to penalties, because we have very good penalty kickers—and a good goalkeeper in Shane Mattis."
Looking ahead to the final against the Champions W Connection, Velox says, they are ready for the challenge.
"Bring it on, W Connection will have a battle on their hands, we want to take this cup back to Grande for our fans."
The men in charge of the Sangre Grande based team—technical advisor Everald ‘Gally’ Cummings and head coach Miguel Hackett are also very pleased to be in the final.
"We trained hard for this game, we actually worked very hard on penalty kicks in practice and it paid off here tonight," said Cummings.
However, in assessing the performance of the team, coach Miguel Hackett admitted to ‘ttproleague.com’, "The boys relaxed a bit after taking a 1-0 lead, we spoke to them at half time and told them we need to go out and keep pressing for another goal, but that did not materialize and Starworld equalized—but it worked out well in the end in the penalty shootout."
"I am not overly concerned about facing W Connection in the final, we will have to step up our game a bit come next Friday—but I am confident our team can match Connection stride for stride—and in a final its anybody’s game," said Hackett.
Gally Cummings agrees, "I think we will actually play a better game against W Connection in the final, they are a more experienced side—a more organized outfit and I believe our guys will rise to the occasion, one thing I will not like is the final to go to penalties, I want to win it in regulation time."