W Connection eyes Pro League lead.
By: Nigel Simon (Guardian).
W Connection will be keen to shake off its T&T Football Federation FA trophy semifinal loss to Neal & Massy Caledonia AIA when it takes on lowly Police in a re-scheduled Digicel T&T Pro League encounter at the Mannie Ramjohn Stadium, Marabella from 6 pm today.
In another re-scheduled match, last year’s champion, Defence Force which still has an outside chance of retaining its title comes up against Adam’s Construction San Juan Jabloteh at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Mucurapo, also from 6pm.
Currently, league debutants T&TEC under coach Dexter Cyrus, lead the eight-team table with 35 points from 18 matches and three outstanding league games to complete its campaign.
While W Connection is two points back in second spot followed by Caledonia (32points), which has played a match more and Defence Force, fourth with 26 points and four matches outstanding.
A win for W Connection will see the three-time league champions reclaim top spot on the table for the first time in two weeks, however, the task for the “Savonetta Boys” will not be an easy one with four first timers in Shahdon Winchester, Joevin Jones, Jomal Williams and Leslie Joel Russell away on national Under-23 duty as well as having to play its third match in five days.
Speaking on the eve of the match with Police, which had a 2-1 win over W Connection in the league already this season, David John-Williams, owner of the Couva-base club said his club intends on winning the league and his players will be ready for the challenges that lie ahead.
“We have a number of guys away with the Under-23 team and this has seen our squad dwindle down to a bare 20 players so we have to rotate the players wisely as we head into the home stretch of the campaign.
Commenting on his team’s busy schedule over the past few days, John-Williams, whose club has already qualified for the Caribbean Football Union Club Championship said, “We played North East Stars (4-1 win) on Friday, then Caledonia (1-0 loss) yesterday (Sunday) in the FA semifinals and now we will be playing Police tomorrow (today) followed by T&TEC in a top-of-the-table clash on Friday so it will be asking lot of our players but we are confident they can do the job.”
Down at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Mucurapo, Defence Force boosted by its 3-2 FA semifinal victory over WASA, also on Sunday will also be keen to pick up maximum points against Jabloteh, which has been eliminated from title contention.
Today’s Digicel T&T Pro League matches:
Jabloteh vs Defence Force @ Hasely Crawford Stadium, Mucurapo, 6pm
Police vs W Connection @ Mannie Ramjohn Stadium, Marabella, 6pm
Remaining Fixtures:
Friday March 23:
Venue: Hasely Crawford Stadium, Mucurapo:
Rangers vs Defence Force, 6pm
Jabloteh vs Caledonia, 8pm
Venue: Mannie Ramjohn Stadium, Marabella:
Police vs North East Stars, 6pm
T&TEC vs W Connection, 8pm
Tuesday March 27:
Police vs T&TEC @Ato Boldon Stadium, Couva, 6pm
Friday March 30:
NE Stars vs Rangers, 6pm
W Connection vs Police, 6pm
Defence Force vs Jabloteh, 8pm
Caledonia vs T&TEC, 8pm
Current Standings:
Teams P W D L F A Pts
T&TEC 18 10 5 3 27 14 35
W Connection 18 11 0 7 22 18 33
Caledonia 19 10 2 7 29 25 32
Defence Force 17 7 5 5 24 21 26
Jabloteh 18 6 6 6 26 24 24
NE Stars 19 4 5 10 18 25 17
Rangers 19 4 5 10 23 35 17
Police 16 3 6 7 22 29 15