Hercules holds Jabloteh.
By: Lasana Liburd (Express).[/size]
A last-gasp Collie Hercules penalty put the brakes on T&T Pro League defending champions CLICO San Juan Jabloteh as they were held 3-3 by Tobago United in Couva yesterday. In slippery conditions at the Ato Boldon Stadium, Jabloteh made heavy weather of bottom-placed Tobago but looked to have done enough for the three points at stake.
They were leading 3-1 in the 76th minute after a brilliant strike from substitute Ataullah Guerra. Jabloteh may still have been reminiscing, two minutes later, when Hercules sprung the offside trap to stab home from close range. The heart-breaker came near the stroke of regulation time as Tobago striker Garth Woodley tumbled over opposing defender Robert Primus and Hercules scored the resulting penalty.
Tobago actually had the gumption to score first as Kayode McKinnon converted after a defensive error in the 22nd minute. But Gayson Gregory pulled Jabloteh level within two minutes and an own goal put the champs ahead midway through the second half. Guerra's superb strike should have applied the icing. But Hercules had other ideas.
Tobago rally to hold Jabloteh.
By: Joel Bailey (Newsday).[/size]
Veteran Guyanese forward Collie Hercules notched an 89th minute equaliser as Tobago United completed a late game rally to hold leaders CLICO San Juan Jabloteh to a 3-3 draw, at the Ato Boldon Stadium, Couva, in Round One Match Day Nine action of the Pro League on Saturday.
After another seasoned Guyanese player, midfielder Kayode McKinnon, put Tobago ahead in the 22nd, Antiguan forward Gaeson Gregory tied the scores two minutes later before ex-Trinidad and Tobago midfielder Atullah Guerra seemingly put the game beyond Tobago’s reach, with items in the 69th and 77th.
But the match was far from over, as Darwin Ross reduced the deficit to 3-2 in the 79th while Hercules’ fifth goal in the league campaign earned a share of the points one minute from full-time.
The other game of the double-header at Couva followed a similar pattern as W Connection allowed an early lead to slip and were forced to salvage a draw, 2-2 against fellow mid-table outfit St Ann’s Rangers.
Colombian forward Oscar Torijino, in his first season at the club, netted his third goal of the season after eight minutes before Ricky Charles responded in the 50th. Defender Joseph “Gouti” Peters gave Rangers the ‘go-ahead’ goal in the 73rd but Kerron Smith denied Rangers their third win of the season with an 88th minute leveller. United Petrotrin, whose 100-percent record was snapped by debutants Ma Pau on Tuesday, failed to reclaim the lead as they lost their second straight game, 3-1 to Joe Public in the second of back-to-back matches at the Marvin Lee Stadium, Tunapuna.
Former national midfielder Kerry Baptiste got things going for Joe Public in the 10th minute, rifling his right-footer over Petrotrin’s goalkeeper Curtis Granger after Jamaican forward Roen Nelson relayed a long spot-kick by his keeper Alejandro Figueroa.
Another long ball resulted in Joe Public’s second, this time Nelson being the beneficiary as he lobbed the flat-footed Granger in the 23rd.
Petrotrin never looked like the team who dominated proceedings in their opening six matches, especially as national midfielder Keon Daniel was marked completely out of the game by his former Petrotrin and national Under-23 clubmate Larry Bacchus.
Nelson notched his second item in the 88th, taking a pass from TT Under-23 defender Marcelle Francois and tucking his right-footer home after Petrotrin failed to clear a Wolry Wolfe corner. But the Southerners salvaged a late consolation in stoppage time with another TT Under-23 player, midfielder Simeon Augustus, diverting a deflected right-sided cross from Kelvin Hernandez to the right of Figueroa.
North East Stars got a 46th minute winner from Sean Cooper to defeat Caledonia AIA 1-0 in the earlier contest at Tunapuna. Cooper latched on to a long ball by his defence, raced into Caledonia’s penalty box and, with goalkeeper Michael Woods rooted to his line, the striker calmly placed his right-footer home, through the keeper’s legs.
Torrential rainfall, which affected the outfield at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Mucurapo, forced the cancellation of the day’s other encounter, between Ma Pau and the struggling Defence Force.
