Public lift on ladies' day.
By: Lasana Liburd (Express).
Bmobile Joe Public, the defending T&T Pro League champions, enjoyed the company of three female match officials yesterday afternoon at the Marvin Lee Stadium, Macoya as they cruised past Tobago United 3-0.
Yesterday's win was the first for Michael McComie, the 2007 Pro League Coach of the Year, since his return to the Public bench two weeks and as many matches ago.
The fixture was just as meaningful for referee Shane De Silva and assistants Linda Bramble and Cindy Mohammed who created history by becoming the first all female cast in a Pro League match.
The trio are preparing for duty at the Cuban leg of next month's CONCACAF Under-20 women's tournament--Mohammed will also carry the flag at September's senior women's World Cup in China--and the Trinidad and Tobago Referees' Association saw the wisdom of using them together in a men's affair.
With all due respect to Public and Tobago, the three ladies would almost certainly have officiated in tastier affairs. Yesterday's tie was virtually decided within the first 15 minutes of the contest.
Twice, national midfielder Kerry Baptiste--used as a support striker alongside Gary Glasgow and Nigel Pierre--ghosted behind the Tobago defence to inflict maximum damage.
Baptiste rounded Tobago goalkeeper Andrew Durant to score the opening goal in the 12th minute while, three minutes later, he created a simple tap in for Glasgow to double their lead.
Glasgow, Pierre and left wing back Gregory Richardson muffed promising opportunities to further embarrass their guests before Glasgow put Public three goals clear after Durant failed to gather a weak headed pass from Tobago defender Kevin Adams in the 59th minute.
The Tobago outfit did secure a consolation item, though, as Kayode Legall drilled into the far corner at the stroke of regulation time for his sixth league goal of the season. Legall began the match on the right flank and showed promise there too before returning to a more threatening spot up front.
He would surely interest a few Trinidad clubs if he opts to follow former teammates Dwayne Jack and Kwame Wiltshire, who left the struggling outfit for CL Financial San Juan Jabloteh and Joe Public, respectively, in the pre-season.
But Legall was only a minor irritant yesterday as Public always had the measure of the visitors on the slick turf and McComie shuffled his players and formation after the restart.
De Silva, Bramble and Mohammed probably get more action in Christmas sales at the mall. There was one debatable De Silva decision when she whistled Lorenzo Wiebers for stopping a Public attack with his arm in the 63rd minute but then did not show a card although the infringement denied Baptiste a goal scoring opportunity.
But the officiating was otherwise spot-on and McComie might not begrudge De Silva's charitable moment as third placed Public snapped a three-game losing streak and boosted their title defence--they were two points behind Jabloteh at the final whistle although the leaders had a game in hand against Petrotrin yesterday evening.
Teams:
Joe Public:[/b] — Alejandro Figueroa, Devon Caseman, Abassi Mc Pherson, Jason Springer, Gregory Richardson, Dale Saunders (capt) (Carey Harris), Arnold Dwarika (Terrance Mc Allister), Lyndon Andrews (Reon Nelson), Gary Glasgow, Kerry Baptiste, Nigel Pierre.
Coach—Michael Mc Comie.
Tobago United: — Andrew Durant, George Dublin (capt), Kevin Adams, Tichard Joseph (Julio Fernandez), Lorenzo Weibers, Nyron Orr, Garth Woodley (Keon Samuel), Kayode Legall, Collie Hercules, Handel Manswell, Garvin Mc Kenna (Joel Harry).
Coach—Peter Granville.
Yesterday's Pro League Results:
Superstar Rangers 3 (Josimar Belgrave 59, Shem McFarlane 70, Corneal Thomas 88) v North East Stars 1 (Randolph Jerome 78)
Defence Force 1 (Richard Roy 54) v Caledonia AIA 0
Joe Public 3 (Kerry Baptiste 10, Gary Glasgow 15, 58) v Tobago United 1 (Kayode Legall 89)
Police F.C. 4 (Terryl Elwin 42, Adrian Nunez 48, Hayden Jones 77, 88) v W Connection 3 (Jose Luis Seabra 73, Earl Jean 75, Jonatan Farias 90)
United Petrotrin 1 (Andre Alexis 47) v San Juan Jabloteh 3 (Peter Byers 84, 86, Jason Marcano 90)
