Zonal Football League Thread

[Tallman]

Gosine resigns as CFA president, Collymore takes over helm
By Walter Alibey (T&T Guardian)

Central Football Association (CFA) president Shymdeo Gosine has resigned, leaving the association's first vice president Wendell Collymore to assume the role of interim president.

His resignation comes after a long battle with his membership over his management of the embattled association. Following his resignation recently, Gosine told Guardian Media Sports that he also submitted a comprehensive report to the FIFA-appointed Normalisation Committee, being led by businessman Robert Hadad explaining in full the reasons for his resignation.

He is now awaiting a response from the normalisation committee to see if the situation will be dealt with.

In the meantime, Gosine who took over the leadership of the CFA from long-serving member Bryan Layne on November 26, 2015, and was re-elected for another term in 2019, has made it clear 'he is done with that.'

Gosine's first foray in the position of leader of central football generated huge excitement with a prize structure that exceeded that of all other regional associations. He also charted a course for youth development in the zone for the first time and spearheaded the upgrade of an online website for the association.

However, members still grew disenchanted, particularly with the way the association's finances were being managed.

Three weeks ago, the Board of the CFA called a meeting to move a motion of no-confidence in Gosine which eventually led to his resignation. It was one of several meetings held by the board.

But according to Gosine on Monday: "All those meetings were illegal meetings. They have never really had a proper meeting but it reached a point that I said listen, I don't need this. When I got involved in this it was to help football to get along, to help central football and for no other reason, because I love football.

"As you very well know, I had a professional team so my goal was to see how I can help football in central and when this thing started happening, since the T&T Football Association election, I decided that this has become too much of a headache for me and I have my business to run. I don't have time for this.

"This every day hounding me down and sending me emails and asking for AGMs, and when I hold one, they want another one, I said enough is enough, and I did a comprehensive report and sent it to the normalisation committee, telling them the reason I have removed myself as the president of central football.

"I removed myself as president of central football and that's the end of that. There's no in-between anymore, 'I done with that.' Not even if they ask me to go back there, I will not go back."

Guardian Media Sports was told that Gosine was also suspended by the board two weeks ago after he refused to give an account on the financial affairs of the association.

Gosine believes his investment in the association, coupled with his desire to take football to another level in T&T was not reciprocated by his members, saying: " In 2019 they got together and said they were going to raise the funds to pay the prize money, but to this date, they have not raised a penny.

"It has been going on for a little bit. All the time, I was picking up the expenses. I mean, there are some funds that I loaned them and I took back, but the truth is that $700,000 to $800,000 of my money was spent in there to keep football and keep it going, but those guys are not interested in football."

Meanwhile, Collymore's tenure will last until the Board of the CFA schedules a general meeting and at that time, they will have the election of a new president. Collymore himself can be returned as president at the general meeting if he is voted in.

[Flex]

Anthony "Dada" Wickham steps down as NFA vice-president.
T&T Guardian Reports.

Outspoken Northern Football Association (NFA) vice-president Anthony "Dada" Wickham has resigned from his position with the regional football body with immediate effect.

This was cited in a letter to current NFA president and former national goalkeeper Ross Russell in a later dated December 21, 2021.

Back on December 28, 2020, Russell was legally elected as the next president of the NFA of the T&T Football Association after his slate won by a landslide to secure all seven positions that were at stake to manage the zone from 2021-2023.

Russell, the La Horquetta Rangers goalkeeper coach, was first elected president of the zone at an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) arranged by Wickham and his supporting clubs at Cascadia Hotel, St Ann’s on Boxing Day (2020). The meeting was a reconvened meeting after the first meeting on December 12 failed to attract a quorum.

However, that gathering was deemed to be unconstitutional by the zone since it had no information about the meeting.

Nevertheless, Russell, 53, of Diego Martin, was elected unopposed in the presence of 16 clubs at the zone's annual general meeting which took place at the St James Youth Centre, Fort George Road, St James.

A former title-winning coach in the T&T Pro League with Defence Force, Russell was due to face off with national football administrator Richard Piper for the position, but Piper, who worked with recently deceased Anthony Harford for over a decade as operations manager, cited outside interference in the zone's elections and decided not to participate and withdrew his nomination form.

The meeting also had to address the issue of the nominations forms which were not completed according to the requirements of the constitution.

However, Wickham made a motion to have the forms accepted and he was successful with 14 clubs voting in support of it and two abstaining.

In addition to Russell, Wickham, the founder and head coach of Trendsetter Hawks which has produced a number of talented national senior and youth players, was elected as first vice-president via 10 votes to six over Tristan Charles.

The other elected members who were elected included Rodney Stowe (second vice-president), Michael Thomas (assistant secretary administration), Nevick Denoon (assistant secretary operations) and Kareem Paul, and Dexter Harris as ordinary members

However, in an email to Russell last December, Wickham cited his reason for resigning his position as due to a number of hindrances negatively impacting the ability to perform his role to which he was elected.

The letter added: "To further clarify, it has been a little over a year now since the new executive was elected and to date, we have not been able to accomplish anything that was promised to the members of the NFA.

"To date, outstanding payments to referees, as well as the 2019 league winners remain unpaid.

"Additionally, we are yet to make any headway with regard to the NFA's bank account and other important information that is required to be handed over to the newly elected executive.

"On being elected, I took a stand to bring about change in the NFA, however, if circumstances beyond my control hinder me being able to bring about change, I see no reason to continue in the position of first vice-president.

"Additionally and subsequent to the Ministry of Sports indication to have contact sports resume exclusively for vaccinated athletes, I regard this as a deliberate infringement of human rights, and as such, further supports my decision to make my exit from the NFA.

"Consequently, I am left with no choice but to tender my resignation with immediate effect. I, therefore, take this opportunity to thank the voting membership for the opportunity afforded to me to serve them, and to wish the Executive all success in their way forward," Wickham ended.

Reached for comment, Russell said the members of the NFA executive were yet to meet to discuss the letter of resignation by Wickham and also chart a way forward.

[Trini _2026]

LOCAL FOOOOTBALL IS BACK .........................

[Flex]

Unknown vaccination statuses kick NFA, EFA out Inter-Zone tourney.
T&T Guardian Reports.

The Northern and Eastern Football Associations (NFA, EFA) have been thrown out of the T&T Football Association's (TTFA) Inter Zonal Football Tournament because of their unknown vaccination statuses.

Both zones are yet to play a match after just the first round of action when they were ousted.

The NFA, which is being coached by former national midfielder Travis Mulraine, was set to officially begin their campaign in the tournament with a match against the Eastern Counties Football Union (ECFU) at the Larry Gomes in Malabar, Arima. They were scheduled to play against the Tobago Football Association last Sunday in their opening game but that match was called off.

The EFA, on the other hand, missed a match against the Central FA on March 6 but is scheduled to be on a bye on Sunday.

A letter from the TTFA that was sent to the associations (EFA, NFA) on Wednesday said: "In an effort to finalise and adequately execute the Zonal Screening Teams (ZST) plan, in the interest of time and availability of stadia, we have unfortunately excluded the Eastern Football Association and Northern Football Association as they have not submitted any information regarding their players or vaccination status to date.

"Additionally, in accordance with our communication on 16 January, 2022 and the targeted kickoff of other club competitions such as Ascension Tournament, Tiger Tanks Men’s Under-20 tournament and NLCL (Next Level Consulting Limited) U-19 Community Cup, the fixtures of the ZSTs will be adjusted. The ZST plan was formulated to operate in the absence of club competitions and it was organised with the understanding from all zones that once club competitions resume, the players would return to their clubs."

Yesterday, Mulraine, fuming at the recent development, said: "The rules never declared a deadline for submitting players' vaccine card and ID, so by right the normal 48 hours should have been adhered to.

"Look at the last line, it specifically says U-20 team. Whether special consideration means senior players can play with them, I don't know. It seems the manager was of the opinion that worst-case scenario, players would have walked with their vaccine card to be able to play on Sunday, he miscalculated."

Mulraine noted that if they were told to submit their vaccination status by a certain date then that would have been done.

[asylumseeker]

By now it should be evident to all and sundry that T&T is a world leader in organization and administration.

As you were! Carry on.

[asylumseeker]

LOCAL FOOOOTBALL IS BACK .........................

It's almost a full two months since you posted that and yet ...

[Trini _2026]

LOCAL FOOOOTBALL IS BACK .........................

It's almost a full two months since you posted that and yet ...

You know how things are in trinidad . we are slow to do things .. always a little bacchannal ... yuh would think during the time contact sport was banned  they would be reorganizing etc

[Deeks]

Look, these club and players are at fault. They know the situation about players being vaxxed. Why the hell the clubs don’t encourage the players to get vaxxed to get vax.

[Tallman]

Ascension pumps $.5M into zonal football
By Walter Alibey (T&T Guardian)

After almost two years of no activities, there will be football in the six Regional Associations this year as the Ascension Football Tournament of T&T has agreed to invest an estimated $500,000 into zonal football. The funds will be given to the Eastern Football Association (EFA), Northern FA, Southern FA, Central FA, Tobago FA and the Eastern Counties Football Union (ECFU).

Tournament Director of the Ascension Football Tournament Keiron Edwards said the sponsorship is to ensure that the foundation of local football at the various zones is kept alive, particularly at zonal youth levels.

Ascension's sponsorship will see each zone receiving $60,000, plus an estimated $30,000 for referees and other operational costs. The zonal executive will decide on how the tournaments would be played, the number of teams and who will be the teams taking part.

The winning team in each zone will walk away with $30,000, with $20,000 for the runner-up and $10,000 for the team placing third.

"We have been meeting with the officials from the T&T Football Association, the Normalisation Committee, the Referees Department, etc to ensure that issues related to refereeing, being compliant and club licensing among others are worked out," Edwards said.

He noted also that he believes the football association can provide much-needed assistance concerning supplying equipment, as well as the starting up of youth leagues in the various zones. The Ascension tournament which started on March 25 of this year, has seen top-quality, competitive action among 10 teams at the Phase II recreation ground in La Horquetta, the Arima Velodrome and the Police Barracks in St James.

Edwards said the Ascension tournament was also expected to include activities for tier one and tier two teams as well but restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic have ruled it out. He promises that next year and there will be activities for all tiers of football in T&T.

[Tallman]

Zonal football warming up...Ascension to sponsor Eastern Counties, North and Central
By Ian Prescott (T&T Express)

EASTERN COUNTIES will kick off their 2022 football season on Octobers 9, while both the Northern and Central Football Association competitions are expected to start soon.

Six regional associations have benefited from sponsorship by the Ascension Football Tournament, which committed to investing in zonal football, as well as the Women League Football competition.

This comes after two years of inactivity due to the Covid-19 epidemic and Government only lifting subsequent playing restrictions in March this year.

Ascension’s sponsorship offer was made in July by Kieron Edwards, tournament director of the Ascension Tournament. It was noted that each zone would receive $60,000 in prize money, as well as an estimated $30,000 for referees’ fees and other operational costs. The prize structure is first—$30,000, second—20,000 and third—$10,000.

Already, the Southern FA, Eastern Football Association (EFA), Tobago FA and the women’s league are underway.

NFA finally agrees

However, the Sunday Express learned that the Northern Football Association had initially rejected the Ascension offer. However, NFA president Ross Russell, the former Defence Force and T&T goalkeeper, has suggested that whatever concerns they have had been alleviated.

“We supposed to start by the end of the month (September),” Russell informed, suggesting that the NFA needed solid confirmation from Ascension before committing to the season.

“We have it in writing,” Russell added. “We having a competition via them (Ascension) because they say that they will sponsor the league.”

NFA secretary Akel Baig also suggested that the start has been hampered by the lack of grounds and also by community issues, with NFA teams coming from several crime hot spots.

“It’s tough, with a couple of little things, such as home grounds and the crime issue in certain areas, such as with Laventille United and (the dangers of) players moving from Belmont into Laventille and Patna Village. It’s a lot of little issues.”

Eastern Counties set to start

Meanwhile, Eastern Counties football was due to begin this weekend, but has been pushed back to October 9. Newly-elected ECFU president Ian Pritchard acknowledged the late start and expects his competition to run all the way to January 2023.

“We were supposed to start on Sunday, (today), but we have been pushed back until the ninth of October,” Pritchard announced.

The Eastern Counties competition will see 13 teams divided into two groups, playing home and away matches across areas such as Mayaro, Sangre Grande, Mafeking, Sangre Chicito, North East Coast, Tamara, Valarie Hill, Niche, Manzanilla, Toco and so on.

Pritchard explained the late start as due to not wanting to disrupt traditional minor leagues that had started, while the ECFU were still working out their funding issues.

“We didn’t want to compete with any league because the same footballers that play in the minor league play in the ECFU (competition), Pritchard explained. “There is competition for grounds as well,” he added.

“We had the Sweet 16 which completed in August. Then we have the Anton Wolfe Sweet 16 that is going on and we also have the Mayaro Football League that starts soon. So, we competing for grounds also.”

Pritchard stated further: “As the national organisation responsible for football in the region, we wanted to give players the best opportunity to play football. We did not know when we would have started because football had not been playing before. So, instead of competing, we collaborated, by allowing these leagues that had their dates set before, to proceed. We made the compromise.”

Randolph Boyce has taken over as CFA president from Doc Engineering boss Shymdeo Gosein. Boyce also expects Central football, which caters for clubs in areas such as Caroni, Chaguanas, and environs to start soon, but does not yet have a kick-off date.

“We are having a competition,” Boyce replied confidently, “We are submitting some documents to the TTFA (Trinidad and Tobago Football Association) and when they get that, they will be able to give us a start date.”

[Flex]

Guerra bangs in beavertrick in EFA Premier.
T&T Guardian Reports.

Former USA-based T&T international Ataulla Guerra registered a beaver trick as La Horquetta XF mauled Barataria Ball Players 11-0 in the second match of an Ascension-sponsored Eastern Football Association (EFA) Premier Division Zonal League double-header at the Maloney Recreation Ground, Maloney on Sunday.

Jamal Creighton helped himself to two goals while Kadeem Corbin, Isaiah Lee, Tyrone Charles, Isaiah Garcia, and Caleb Sturge chipped in with one each for La Horquetta in the one-sided contest against Barataria Ball Players to move to nine points in six matches, nine adrift of leaders Malabar FC who suffered a second loss on the season, this time by default after they arrived late for their match against CG Poseidon at D’Abadie Recreation Ground.

Also on D’Abadie, SKHY FC won by default as well after scheduled opponents Creek FC did not have enough players to start their match at the set time.

In Sunday’s other match, Keron Clarke scored two, and Saleem Henry, and Sean Bonval the others for Maloney FC to beat Oropune FC 4-0 to share the second spot with CG Poseidon on 13 points from six matches each, two behind Bon Air FC.

Results - Sunday:

Maloney FC 4 (Keron Clarke 2, Saleem Henry, Sean Bonval) vs Oropune FC 0

La Horquetta XF 11 (Ataulla Guerra 4, Jamal Creighton 2, Kadeem Corbin, Isaiah Lee, Tyrone Charles, Isaiah Garcia, Caleb Sturge) vs Barataria Ball Players 0

CG Poseidon 3 vs Malabar FC 0 - by default

SHKY FC 3 vs Creek FC 0 - by default

Teams P W D L F A Pts
Malabar FC 8 6 0 2 34 16 18
Bon Air FC 6 5 0 1 34 10 15
Maloney Eagles FC 6 4 1 1 28 10 13
CG Poseidon 6 4 1 1 19 15 13
Terminix Lighting 8 3 1 4 35 26 10
La Horquetta XF 5 3 0 3 26 15 9
SKHY FC 7 3 0 4 16 13 9
Oropune FC 7 2 2 3 14 23 8
Creek FC 8 2 1 5 10 45 4
Barataria Ball Players 7 0 0 7 3 46 0

Upcoming matches: Sunday, October 2:

Maloney FC vs Barataria Ball Players @ Maloney Rec. Grd, 7 pm

La Horquetta XF vs Malabar FC @ D’Abadie Rec. Grd, 6 pm

CG Poseidon vs Bon Air FC @ Bon Air Rec. Grd, 6 pm

SKHY FC vs Oropune FC @ Maloney Rec. Grd, 5 pm

[Tallman]

Police, Misc Laventille in winners' row in North Zone openers
By Andrew Gioannetti (T&T Newsday)

KEVIN McNEIL, Dishon Awai and Ryan Isaac were all on target as Miscellaneous Laventille United cruised to a comfortable 4-0 victory over Football Factory in the opening round of the Northern Football Association (NFA) Premier Division, on Sunday.

At St Mary's College Ground, St Clair, McNeil, a former San Juan North Secondary stand-out attacker bagged a brace, while Awai and Issac scored one item each to guide their team to an early Group D lead, ahead of Seekers FC on goal-difference.

There are four groups being contested with four teams in Group A and D and five in B and C. The top two teams will advance out of their groups into the quarter-final stage.

On Friday, Seekers FC defeated Patna FC 2-1, with Akeel Superville scoring an 81st minute winner. Nicholas Roach put Seekers before the half, before Kyle Jones levelled the scores in the 54th minute.

Also on Friday, Group A got underway with Abraham Livingston scoring a pair and O'Neal Vasquez, Khalid King and Josiah Cox all scoring one each as RSSR cruised to a 5-1 over Paramin Scholars. Kyle Jones scored for the losing team.

Police also won handsomely at the Police Barracks, St James, on Sunday, shooting to the helm of Group B, with a 4-0 win over Cultural Roots. Kurdell Brathwaite, Kadeem Boyce, Josiah Wilson and Jaden Moore were all on target.

Also in Group B, Petit Valley/Diego Martin United defeated AC Port of Spain via goals from Brandon Joseph and Jabarry Henry top join Police on three points.

On Saturday, Group C's St Francois Nationals and Guerreros played to a goalless draw.

Second round matches will be played this weekend. This season is the NFA's first since the start of the pandemic in 2020.

Prizes on offer include $2,000 for group winners, $1,500 for runners-up, $1,000 for third place and $800 for fourth place.

The overall winners will take home $19,000, with $8,000 on offer for second-place finishers.

Quarter-final victors will also earn $2,000.

[Tiresais]

A website is promising!

If you wondered, the website is still totally incomplete. Not even got the executive up on the pages.

[Flex]

Palo Seco Trippy tops Point Ligoure United to qualify for CFL quarters.
By Rachael Thompson-King (T&T Guardian).

Palo Seco Trippy Football Club (FC) had three different players hitting the target in its lopsided 3-0 victory over Point Ligoure United in the Deportivo Point Fortin (PF) Community Football League (CFL) on Tuesday night at La Brea grounds.

Kyron Williams, Jeremy Carter and Tyrese Reefer each scored a goal to help Palo Seco Trippy win and move to top of Group Diamonds standings with seven points from two wins and a draw. The win also means that it has cemented it spot in next week’s quarterfinals. Nathaniel Garcia of Palo Seco Trippy was named the “Man of the Match” (MOTM).

Unfortunately for Point Ligoure, the loss means that it remains at the bottom of the three-team table with one point eliminating any chance of moving on in the southern 12-team competition.

 Sporting Club Fyzabad, with one match outstanding, will be the other team progressing from the group with five points from three matches (a win and two draws). Fyzabad will meet Palo Seco Trippy tomorrow in their final preliminary round match at a venue to be announced.

In the other match earlier Tuesday, Egypt United earned its first point of the competition holding Erin Boarder Players to a 2-2 draw. However, it was not enough to lift Egypt from the bottom of Group Hearts in its final league match.

Dval Moore scored a double for Egypt while Border Players’ two goals came from eventual MOTM award recipient, Gesiah Bishop.

The Erin team will advance to the quarterfinals as the second-best team in the group, regardless of the result in the final match of the regular season also on Friday against unbeaten Guapo Uprising Youths.

On Monday, teams in Group Clubs and Spades were in action.

New Village FC topped the previously undefeated Lakeview United, 2-0, to head Group Spades going into the quarterfinals. Goals came from Kemuel Farrell and Terrell Abraham in a match where their teammate Jules Lee was named the top player of the affair.

Despite the loss, Lakeview will also move on to the next round with seven points from two wins and a draw.

In the second match, the leader of Group Clubs La Brea All Stars were held to a 1-1 draw by Cedros Pirates, who had Kyle Vialva emerging as the top player of the match.

Rehad Moodie was on target for the Pirates while league leading scorer Shaquille John with six goals in three matches, netted the lone item for the group’s leader La Brea. Both teams will progress to the quartefinals after the final round of matches on Saturday, also at a venue to be announced.

Results

Tuesday (La Brea grounds)

• ↓Erin Boarder Players 2 (Gesiah Bishop 2) vs Egypt United 2 (Dval Moore 2). MOTM- Gesiah Bishop (Erin Boarder)

• ↓Palo Seco Trippy FC 3 (Kyron Williams, Jeremy Carter, Tyrese Reefer) vs Point Ligoure United 0. MOTM - Nathaniel Garcia (Palo Seco Trippy)

Monday (La Brea grounds)

• ↓New Village FC 2 (Kemuel Farrell, Terrell Abraham) vs Lakeview United 0. MOTM - Jules Lee (New Village)

• ↓Cedros Pirates 1 (Rehad Moodie) vs La Brea All Stars 1 (Shaquille John). MOTM - Kyle Vialva (Cedros Pirates)

Saturday (Fullerton grounds)

• ↓Point Ligoure United 1 (Jamille Boatswain) vs Sporting Club Fyzabad 1 (Dantye Gilbert). MOTM - Brent Plenty (Point Ligoure)

• ↓Cedros Pirates 3 (Rehad Moodie 2, Kyle Moodie) vs Fanny Village United 1 (Reasean Paul). MOTM - Rehad Moodie (Cedros)

Friday (Bonasse Grounds)

• ↓Guapo Uprising 7 (Rondel Phillip 2, Christon Figaro 2, Akeel Vesprey, Daniel Diaz, Justin Cornwall) vs Egypt United 0. MOTM - C Fifgaro (Guapo)

• ↓Lakeview United 1 (Chris Collins) vs Mahaica FC 0. MOTM - C Collins (Lakeview)

Matches

Friday

• ↓Palo Seco Trippy FC vs Sporting Club Fyzabad, 6 pm

• ↓Erin Border Players vs Guapo Uprising Youths, 8 pm

Saturday

• ↓La Brea All Stars vs Fanny Village United, 6 pm

• ↓New Village FC vs Mahaica FC, 8 pm

[Flex]

Maloney edges La Horquetta on penalties in EFA kayo final.
T&T Guardian Reports.

Maloney Eagles FC captured the Ascension Eastern Football Association (EFA) Premier Division $10,000 winner-take-all knockout crown after they overcame league champions La Horquetta XF 4-3 on penalty kicks following a 2-2 draw in regulation time at the Phase II La Horquetta Recreation Ground, La Horquetta on Sunday.

Former national player Nathan Lewis stunned the host when he fired Maloney ahead as early as the second minute, but Jamal Creighton hit back for La Horquetta in the 15th minute before another ex-national player Ataulla Guerra put the host ahead for the first in the 34th minute which they held until the half-time interval.

Within 13 minutes of the restart, Saleem Henry got Maloney back on level terms at 2-2 and despite the best efforts of both teams the match ended 2-2 at the end of regulation time, and in the shoot-out, Maloney held their nerves to come away with the victory, making amends for their runner-up finish in the league.

For Maloney, Henry, Joshua Alexander, Keron Clarke and Lewis all scored their attempts with Sean Bonval the lone player to miss while Creighton, Guerra and Tyrone Charles converted their attempts for La Horquetta with failed attempts coming from Aikim Andrews and Isaiah Lee.

In the semifinals a week earlier at the Maloney Recreation Ground, Maloney trashed Malabar FC 7-0 with Daniel Warner scoring a hattrick in the 29th, 31st, and 32nd minutes while Alexander, Bonval,  Keston Williams, and Jadel Carter added one each.

In the second semifinal, La Horquetta XF twice came from behind to defeat Terminix Lighting 3-2 in their semifinal at the same venue on Wednesday.

For Terminix Lighting, national youth team striker Real Gill opened the scoring in the fourth minute, but the short-handed La Horquetta who only fielded 12 men for the contest drew level seven minutes later through Guerra, only for Leonardo Da Costa to restore Terminix Lighting’s lead in the 42nd minute for a 2-1 lead at the interval.

Ten minutes into the second half, Lee got La Horquetta on level terms for the second time in the contest before Guerra fired in the decisive item, his second of the match on the hour mark to book his teams’ place in Sunday’s final.

Last month, La Horquetta defeated Maloney Eagles FC 3-0 to claim the $25,000 league top prize ahead with 21 points from nine matches while Maloney finished in the second spot, two points behind the winners for $15,000, with Bon Air FC securing the $10,000 for third ahead of Malabar FC on goal-difference after both teams ended with 18 points each.

[Bianconeri]

Maloney edges La Horquetta on penalties in EFA kayo final.
T&T Guardian Reports.

Maloney Eagles FC captured the Ascension Eastern Football Association (EFA) Premier Division $10,000 winner-take-all knockout crown after they overcame league champions La Horquetta XF 4-3 on penalty kicks following a 2-2 draw in regulation time at the Phase II La Horquetta Recreation Ground, La Horquetta on Sunday.

Former national player Nathan Lewis stunned the host when he fired Maloney ahead as early as the second minute, but Jamal Creighton hit back for La Horquetta in the 15th minute before another ex-national player Ataulla Guerra put the host ahead for the first in the 34th minute which they held until the half-time interval.

Within 13 minutes of the restart, Saleem Henry got Maloney back on level terms at 2-2 and despite the best efforts of both teams the match ended 2-2 at the end of regulation time, and in the shoot-out, Maloney held their nerves to come away with the victory, making amends for their runner-up finish in the league.

For Maloney, Henry, Joshua Alexander, Keron Clarke and Lewis all scored their attempts with Sean Bonval the lone player to miss while Creighton, Guerra and Tyrone Charles converted their attempts for La Horquetta with failed attempts coming from Aikim Andrews and Isaiah Lee.

In the semifinals a week earlier at the Maloney Recreation Ground, Maloney trashed Malabar FC 7-0 with Daniel Warner scoring a hattrick in the 29th, 31st, and 32nd minutes while Alexander, Bonval,  Keston Williams, and Jadel Carter added one each.

In the second semifinal, La Horquetta XF twice came from behind to defeat Terminix Lighting 3-2 in their semifinal at the same venue on Wednesday.

For Terminix Lighting, national youth team striker Real Gill opened the scoring in the fourth minute, but the short-handed La Horquetta who only fielded 12 men for the contest drew level seven minutes later through Guerra, only for Leonardo Da Costa to restore Terminix Lighting’s lead in the 42nd minute for a 2-1 lead at the interval.

Ten minutes into the second half, Lee got La Horquetta on level terms for the second time in the contest before Guerra fired in the decisive item, his second of the match on the hour mark to book his teams’ place in Sunday’s final.

Last month, La Horquetta defeated Maloney Eagles FC 3-0 to claim the $25,000 league top prize ahead with 21 points from nine matches while Maloney finished in the second spot, two points behind the winners for $15,000, with Bon Air FC securing the $10,000 for third ahead of Malabar FC on goal-difference after both teams ended with 18 points each.

Hold up

La Horquetta has 2 teams in the same league?? (EFA)

[royal]

Coach Benny wants Belmont FC to become pro unit
By Jelani Beckles (T&T Newsday)

BELMONT FC won their first Northern Football Association (NFA) League Cup title at the Hasely Crawford Stadium training field in Mucurapo on Wednesday night.

An early second-half strike from Kendal Hackett was enough to give Belmont FC a 1-0 win over Guerreros FC. Belmont FC became the second team from Belmont to win the title following in the footsteps of St Francois Nationals who won previously.

Former St Anthony’s College players Che Benny and Haile Beckles are among those on the Belmont FC squad. A total of 18 teams competed in the tournament over the past six weeks.

Belmont FC coach Mark Benny was pleased with the effort of his players but thinks the standard of play could have been of a higher standard.

"Performance wise I think we could have been better. We have always been one of the fitter teams in the league."

Belmont FC have been in existence for six years and is a community-based team as 75 per cent of the players are from Belmont including goalscorer Hackett.

"Most of the players though are homegrown to our credit. It is more a Belmont-based team. We have a few people from outside, but they are friends of the players."

Benny has goals for the club and does not want to see the club stay in the NFA. "We want to bring a professional unit out of Belmont. From day one that has been the dream."

Belmont FC trains at Queen's Park Savannah which is within walking distance from the community.

With support from sponsors, the club can reach further. Asked where he sees the club in two years, Benny said, "We know how the football goes. It is all dependent on sponsorship. Right now everything usually is on my pocket. We try to do fundraisers in between. We are hoping to do something where we could get the community involved."

Benny was thankful that fans made the trip from Belmont to the Hasely Crawford Stadium training field for the match. "We had a good turnout last night and we had a lot of Belmont supporters. We trying to keep that (because) you play for community and family first. We have a set of players who represent Belmont to the best of their ability and we just want to carry that forward."

Discussing what may have contributed to the success of the team, Benny pointed to the defence. "Defensively we pride ourselves on our rugged and sturdy defending. Even though we never won the league (previously) we always come out probably conceding the least amount of goals. We are a very solid unit and we play for each other."

[Deeks]

Good luck on your endeavours, Belmont FC.

[Tiresais]

Maloney edges La Horquetta on penalties in EFA kayo final.
T&T Guardian Reports.

Maloney Eagles FC captured the Ascension Eastern Football Association (EFA) Premier Division $10,000 winner-take-all knockout crown after they overcame league champions La Horquetta XF 4-3 on penalty kicks following a 2-2 draw in regulation time at the Phase II La Horquetta Recreation Ground, La Horquetta on Sunday.

Former national player Nathan Lewis stunned the host when he fired Maloney ahead as early as the second minute, but Jamal Creighton hit back for La Horquetta in the 15th minute before another ex-national player Ataulla Guerra put the host ahead for the first in the 34th minute which they held until the half-time interval.

Within 13 minutes of the restart, Saleem Henry got Maloney back on level terms at 2-2 and despite the best efforts of both teams the match ended 2-2 at the end of regulation time, and in the shoot-out, Maloney held their nerves to come away with the victory, making amends for their runner-up finish in the league.

For Maloney, Henry, Joshua Alexander, Keron Clarke and Lewis all scored their attempts with Sean Bonval the lone player to miss while Creighton, Guerra and Tyrone Charles converted their attempts for La Horquetta with failed attempts coming from Aikim Andrews and Isaiah Lee.

In the semifinals a week earlier at the Maloney Recreation Ground, Maloney trashed Malabar FC 7-0 with Daniel Warner scoring a hattrick in the 29th, 31st, and 32nd minutes while Alexander, Bonval,  Keston Williams, and Jadel Carter added one each.

In the second semifinal, La Horquetta XF twice came from behind to defeat Terminix Lighting 3-2 in their semifinal at the same venue on Wednesday.

For Terminix Lighting, national youth team striker Real Gill opened the scoring in the fourth minute, but the short-handed La Horquetta who only fielded 12 men for the contest drew level seven minutes later through Guerra, only for Leonardo Da Costa to restore Terminix Lighting’s lead in the 42nd minute for a 2-1 lead at the interval.

Ten minutes into the second half, Lee got La Horquetta on level terms for the second time in the contest before Guerra fired in the decisive item, his second of the match on the hour mark to book his teams’ place in Sunday’s final.

Last month, La Horquetta defeated Maloney Eagles FC 3-0 to claim the $25,000 league top prize ahead with 21 points from nine matches while Maloney finished in the second spot, two points behind the winners for $15,000, with Bon Air FC securing the $10,000 for third ahead of Malabar FC on goal-difference after both teams ended with 18 points each.

Hold up

La Horquetta has 2 teams in the same league?? (EFA)

I thought the same, but it seems Terminix Lightning isn't a reserve of the other two, just another sponsored team.

Could be wrong

[Deeks]

I kind of confuse here. I see Leonardo Da Costa and his brother played for Rangers in the national Acension league earlier in the year. Now he with Terminex Lightening. So Ferguson has two teams ?

[Bianconeri]

Was asking that earlier on....it seems so..

Hilarious if true