Steups!! Go Green Machine....
http://www.trinidadexpress.com/sports/Tigers_devour_Signal_Hill_3-0-105839628.htmlTigers devour Signal Hill 3-0
...meet St Augustine in Friday's 'Big Five' finalBy Kern De Freitas kern.defreitas@trinidadexpress.com
St Anthony's College roared into Friday's BG T&T Secondary Schools Football League final, opposite St Augustine Secondary, the North Zone champions tearing through Signal Hill Secondary 3-0 yesterday, at the Hasely Crawford Stadium.
The "Tigers", even without their main goalkeeper Jamal Francois and captain Dwight Ceballo, made light work of their rivals to stay unbeaten this season with their usual attacking flair and movement off the ball. Another Francois, left-winger Andel, was Signal Hill's main tormentor, and was involved in two goals, which left him a shoo-in to be player of the match.
Defender and vice captain Jemali Garcia stepped up to take the first of two penalties in the opening period, while Keane McIvor hit net just before half-time. Captain Raychard Allen scored, again from the penalty spot, after the break to lead his team into the final. St Anthony's deserved their 2-0 half-time lead. They took the first few minutes to size up Signal Hill's attack, as the Tobagonians used their pace and ball control in their attempts to seize the early advantage. But once the Tigers settled, Signal Hill had little answer for their running game, punctuated by crisp short passing and high tempo. Signal Hill had the first attack that brought a save out of Dominic Amoroso, and as they had done in Friday's quarterfinal against Carapichaima, attacked strongly from the wings, especially through Shaquille Gill on the left.
But with a faster game and more stout defence than the Central champs, St Anthony's dulled that threat. They controlled the midfield, and freed up Mc Ivor and their own little pocket dynamo in Francois (A) to create havoc in the Signal Hill penalty box. The first goal came in the 21st minute. After Moriba Ballah was bundled over in the area, Garcia converted the resultant spot kick.
Though Signal Hill poured forward looking for the equaliser, pushing numbers upfield, they only ended up conceding a second on 40 minutes, a nice build up with good one-touch passing by Jean Paul Aqui-Blanc and Allen setting up McIvor, who drove to King's right. Signal Hill would have enjoyed the respite half-time brought after continued pressure led them to the break.
Signal Hill had the first attack of the second half, but St Anthony's seized control thereafter. In the 50th, Adrian Millette rocked the right post, then the diminutive Francois (A) squeezed through two defenders, but hesitated and lost the ball. Signal Hill did have their chances. Dareem Moore blasted wide from a dangerous play on the right, and Darren Trim should have given them their first goal, but he punted wide from 12 metres after a poor clearance by the Tigers defence.
Things got worse for the visitors. Shaquille McLetchie was sent off for a second bookable offence in the 70th, and St Anthony's took the opportunity to polish off their opponents with a third item in the 73rd. Again, Francois was involved, beating one, two, three defenders and towing them into the box before he was mowed down. The referee immediately pointed to the spot. Captain Allen stepped up to thump home, sending King the wrong way. The match was unofficially over.
The Tigers maintained the possession play, and could have added a fourth, but Francois' shot was too close to the goalkeeper. The real reward for St Anthony's, for all their dominance, is a place in Friday's Big Five final against the "Green Machine" of St Augustine.
