Mucurapo Senior Comprehensive moved one step closer to clinching the North Zone title when they held on to beat Fatima College 1-0 at Fatima's Ground in the teams second round meeting of the BG T&T Secondary Schools Football League yesterday.
In a largely ordinary affair between the two Mucurapo Road teams, the former---despite a last ditch effort from Fatima to equalise---clung to a first half lead given them by Richard Roy to overturn a 2-1 first round upset by their neighbours and maintain their four-point advantage over defending champions St Anthony's College. Fatima, meanwhile have slipped to fifth in the standings.
Although "Compre" needed a win to keep on course in their title aspirations, they would be disappointed that they did not make good use of a host of chances in the first half of the match.
Roy gave Mucurapo their only item in the 35th minute, when Antullah Guerra, running down the right flank, supplied an accurate cross to Roy. He obliged by collecting the ball and in one movement, turning and firing past Adrian Foncette in Fatima goal.
Even after their initial success, Mucurapo seemed not to know what to do with the momentum, failing to add to their advantage by the interval. In the second half, Fatima looked a more desperate unit and had a few shies on goal, but nothing that seemed to worry 'Compre custodian Nigel Thomas. Mucurapo had two golden chances in the first ten minutes after the restart, but some errant shooting, and at times lazy attacking let them down.
Fatima had their best chance in the 72nd minute when Thomas badly handled a left side cross, but he was able to recover well enough to hold off an onrushing Chad De Freitas.
In the 82nd minute substitute Nigel Arthur found the net by looping an airborne ball over the advancing Foncette, only to be thwarted by the referee assistant's flag.
The victory puts Mucurapo on 27 points, while St Anthony's remained in the hunt after a 4-0 drubbing of Morvant/Laventille Secondary.