BraveHart take note
Army edge ‘forces’ derby
By Ian Prescott (TT Express).DEFENDING CHAMPIONS Defence Force were workmanlike rather than spectacular when winning the protective forces derby, and picking up three points against Police in the Digicel Pro League on Friday night.
There was also a 1-1 stalemate between tightly-matched North East Stars and Central FC in the second match at the Marvin Lee Stadium (MLS) . At Couva, previously out-of-form striker Keyon Edwards netted a hat-trick as Caledonia AIA got a second win of the season. They beat the bottom team St Ann’s Rangers 6-1 to move third, while newcomers Point Fortin Civic FC suffered a third straight defeat after winning their opening three matches. The deep South boys were beaten 3-1 by San Juan Jabloteh, with the league’s top-scorer Kerry Baptiste getting two more goals.
Still, Civic remain second, because except for consistent and still perfect table-toppers W Connection (15 points), the Pro League remains very competitive, with the rest of teams regularly taking points from each other.
At the MLS, Defence Force assistant-coach and former T&T midfielder Marvin Gordon took charge in the absence of head coach Ross Russell, who is in Colombia with the National Under-15 boys. Russell missed seeing his charges win 2-1. They got the winner in the 66th from Jerwyn Baltazar, who planted a powerful, low shot from atop the penalty area.
The Army had marginally the better of a sedate first half, which saw left wide midfielder Kevon Carter produce the lone goal in the 15th minute, when he stroked in the rebound after his initial header from Jemel Sebro’s cross came off the foot of the upright.
Akiba Peters had a good chance to pull Police level in the 38th, but put the ball wide from an angle when he might have done better, and Josimar Belgrave also blazed over from close up instead of just giving the Army a second goal on the stroke of halftime, following good build-up play between Carter and overlapping right defender Marvin Jones.
Police threatened to rewrite the script early in the second half when they had a least two good chances. Elijah Belgrave looked sure to pull the lawmen level in the 49th when bearing down menacingly on the Army goal. But with keeper Kevin Graham in sight, Belgrave hesitated and allowed a defender to toe-poke the ball away. However, Belgrave (E) made up for the error big time in the 58th minute when he powered a free-kick into the top corner from atop the penalty area, to level the match at 1-1.
The shock of that Police equaliser seemed to awaken the sleeping Army, and there was almost an immediate reply through Rondell Elcock’s downward header which was just a little too close to Police keeper Adrian Foncette. Seconds later, Foncette was forced into action again, producing a flying save to stop Richard Roy’s shot. But the Police custodian had no answer when Sebro cut the ball back to the top of the penalty area and Baltazar cut loose.
With three minutes left, Police’s Anton Hutchinson headed Peters’ cross onto the Defence Force crossbar with keeper Graham beaten, but they would come no closer.
The Pro League competition will now take a short break for the second knockout tournament of the season, the Toyota Classic, which begins this coming Friday.
FRIDAY’S DIGICEL PRO LEAGUE RESULTS:
(Venue - Ato Boldon Stadium, Couva)
Caledonia AIA 6 (Keyon Edwards 9th, 25th & 46th, Noel Williams 71st, Densil Theobald 72nd, Tyron Charles 84th)
St. Ann’s Rangers 1 (Jumol Harewood 36th)
San Juan Jabloteh 3 (Kerry Baptiste 45th & 62nd, Rennie Britto 52th)
Point Fortin Civic FC 1 (Kelvin Modeste 50th)
(Venue – Marvin Lee Stadium, Macoya)
Defence Force 2 (Kevon Carter 15th, Jerwyn Balthazar 67th)
Police FC 1 (Elijah Belgrave 58th)
North East Stars 1(Anthony Wolfe 72nd)
Central FC 1 (Dwight Quintero 68th)
LATEST DIGICEL PRO LEAGUE STANDINGS:
Team P W D L GF GA GD Pts
Direct TV W Connection 5 5 0 0 15 2 13 15
Point Fortin Civic FC 6 3 0 3 7 9 -2 9
Caledonia AIA 6 2 2 2 13 9 4 8
Central FC 5 2 2 1 8 6 2 8
North East Stars 5 2 1 2 7 5 2 7
Police FC 6 2 1 3 11 11 0 7
San Juan Jabloteh 5 2 0 3 14 17 -3 6
Defence Force 5 2 0 3 9 12 -3 6
St. Ann’s Rangers 5 1 0 4 9 22 -13 3