Debe bags girls intercol title.
By: Shari John (Guardian).
Debe High School got the better of Roxborough Secondary for the second time in this week when it copped the BGTT Girls InterCol title for a third consecutive year.
Debe edged Roxborough 1-0 on Tuesday to take the Big Four title for a third time as well. The South Zone powerhouse team beat the visitors 4-1 yesterday at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Mucurapo to add a fifth title to its trophy case which already includes the South Zone, South InterCol, Trinidad InterCol and Big Four titles.
Anticipating that Roxborough would do better to contain national U-17 mid-fielder Kayla Taylor this time around, Debe coach, Arnold Murphy opted to play Taylor in centre midfield rather than up front as in previous matches.
As a result, Amanda Theodore (32nd minute), Chenelle Ajoon (50th) and Mariscia Adams (64th) were able to get their names on the scorecard, while Taylor scored a meagre one goal by her standards in the 73rd minute. Roxborough looked much better than in Tuesday’s match, producing a lot more pressure than they had in the Big Four final.
The Tobago side did well to keep Taylor from advancing very far from midfield, but Debe proved that the U-17 player is not the only one capable of scoring in its team.
Debe were ahead at the end of the first half thanks to Theodore’s 32nd minute strike, but were on the backfoot 10 minutes later, when goal keeper, Linfah Jones misread a volley from N’Jemile Charles that brought the score level.
Five minutes after the resumption, Ajoon had her name on the scorecard and later Adams before Taylor would finally break through the defence to slot one home herself.
Speaking after the match, Debe captain, Patrice Vincent, who took up the reigns after former captain and national player, Mariah Shade, said she was very proud of her team.
Vincent made note of the change where Taylor was concerned, explained that it paid off for them in the end as the match turned out to be their best this season.
“Today we did not use Kayla too much, we tried to use a new strategy and this was one of the best games we had,” she said.
Vincent explained that Taylor needed the rest, “Kayla really overworked herself over the past three years with national training so her legs are not going as they usually do.
“The other girls can play, the problem is just finishing, but we talked about it a lot and did some ball work and it showed out there today on the field.” Also sharing her joy of winning the InterCol title for a third year was Jones, who has now conceded just five goals in three years.
“It really nice to win three times in a row, especially with people I enjoy playing with, that’s the most important thing, being with people you care about and would fight for,” said Jones. The match was the final in this year’s season.
St Augustine clinch SSFL Big Five title.
By Kern De Freitas (Express).
'Machine' mows down Tigers
St Augustine's "Green Machine" rolled out of the Hasely Crawford Stadium as "Big Five" champions last night after edging St Anthony's College 5-4 on kicks from the penalty spot in a hard-fought comeback.
Joel Henry handed St Augustine a lifeline in the last minute of the match, beating the off-side trap and then "Tigers" goalkeeper Jamaal Francois, to tie the affair at 2-2 and send the match to penalties.
St Anthony's skipper Dwight Ceballo missed his kick first up, meaning his team were always behind in the shootout.
Kyle Bartholomew scored the final kick to make it official: St Augustine repeat as Big Five champs.
St Anthony's might have felt unlucky as they dominated almost all 90 minutes of the game. But skipper Theon James scored in the 77th to halve their two-goal deficit.
The luck went with St Augustine as well, who also had more than an extra minute past the suggested three minutes of stoppage time, and they made it count with their final play.
The victory hands them the record of the most national league titles in Secondary Schools Football League (SSFL) history--seven.
Having suffered through the first half, St Augustine would have counted themselves lucky to still have a chance after 90 minutes.
The Green Machine's tactics of patience may have been what backfired on them during the first half. The Tigers pressed for that early goal, and left-winger Andel Francois in particular provided a headache for St Augustine.
In just the fourth minute McIvor could have opened the goal-scoring, but his low drive trickled agonisingly wide of the St Augustine near post on the left with goalkeeper Kerron Jones already beaten.
And after a few raids, St Anthony's got the early goal for which they had been searching.
Adrian Millette made a lightning run to the edge of the box and collected a through pass to his right, before stabbing his right-footer past Jones to spark celebrations from the boys in red and black.
A few minutes later the Tigers could have gone further ahead, as they seemed to be just toying with their prey, passing the ball in and around the St Augustine defence as the boys in white fought unsuccessfully to clear.
Even when St Augustine did have the chances they could not find the net, as Kevin Seebrun was denied by keeper Francois, before skipper James booted over from six metres.
In the 33rd McIvor made it 2-0 St Anthony's after St Augustine had given away the ball midway in their own half.
Millette grabbed the loose ball and played a one-two with Dion Manswell, before turning to his left and threading a pass through the box for the onrushing McIvor. He beat Jones and a defender to the ball by a toe and chipped home.
They took that 2-0 lead to the break and again started the second half strongly. Zavion Navarro could have pulled one back for St Augustine in the 58th, though, but he shot over from point-blank range after collecting the rebound from a poor clearance.
Francois (A) wove his way into the St Augustine box and they scrambled to clear, while Millette also had a chance to get the ball into the net, but was closed down in front of goal.
Against the run of play, James, who had been labouring down the left flank all match long, got his team back into the match.
A bad defensive mix up left Jamaal Francois scrambling for the ball and the goalkeeper could not grab it cleanly. James forced the rebound to the right of the near post and found the right angle to beat the goalie.
St Anthony's sought to wind down the clock and did so by keeping possession in St Augustine's area and holding up the ball at the corner flag.
That ploy backfired, as almost four and a half minutes into stoppage time, St Augustine found themselves with room behind the already-celebrating Tigers and Henry beat the offside trap and spanked home from close range to give the match a fitting thriller ending.
They held their nerve in the penalty shoot-out and were able to lift their record seventh trophy.
