Larry Gomes Stadium
Caledonia 1 - 2 Defence Force
Defence Force started brightly, possibly encouraged by their performance in the abandoned match vs North East Stars on Saturday. Caledonia, coming off the back of 4 straight wins, including a 3-2 victory over Defence Force, looked slow out of the blocks, spending most of the first half on the defensive. Surprisingly considering they were fielding top goalscorer, Devon Modeste as well as goal scorer extraordinaire, Devon Jorsling, Cale looked impotent going forward.
The Army team missed several good chances with Baltazhur looking particularly hungry for goals from midfield, having several good chances. However, it fell to Richard Roy to open the scoring with a lucky goal bundled over the line from 2 yards....although I'm sure he would justify his Mueller-esque goal by saying that a good striker makes his own luck.
Caledonia only really had 2 efforts in the first 45 minutes, rarely being able to force their way into the Army's half of the field and they appeared to be very lacklustre, with little movement off the ball. Defence Force looked good for their half time advantage, seemingly challenging for every ball.
As the teams came out for the second half, it looked like we would get more of the same, with the Army team out early and raring to go, while Caledonia drifted out onto the field, not looking at all like a team who could top the table if they won (if only for 2 hours, with Jabloteh playing at 6pm). But Coach Shabazz must of inspired them, for when the whistle blew, we saw an entirely different game from the first half. Playing with a 4-2-4 system, Caledonia pinned the Army down like a lepidopterist with a butterfly. Defence Force found themselves defending against wave after wave of corners, free kicks and shots.
However, Caledonia, despite being a free scoring team, with 13 goals in 9 matches, had conceded 12 and despite all of their pressure, the games second goal went to Defence Force, when goalkeeper Kevin Graham failed to deal with a rare second half Army cross and the ball was deflected into the net.
Despite the 2 goal deficit, Caledonia gamely pressed on, winning a penalty, which Kareem Joseph slotted cleanly past Kevin Graham (Yes, both keepers had the same name!)
The penalty signalled a frantic last 15 minutes, which saw the Army team once again pinned into their own half. But some solid defending saw them maintain their lead to give them their first victory of this campaign. Such was the frustration of Caledonia that on the final whistle, one of their players hoofed the ball from the half way line behind the far goal, which promptly earned him a red card, to round off an unsatisfactory day for the Morvant team.