As­cen­sion Foot­ball League Thread

[Tiresais]

I wouldn't be too worried  - when you start entering rugby score territory it's hard to maintain your focus.

[Flex]

Jabloteh climbs to 5th in Ascension.
By Nigel Simon (Guardian).

San Juan Jabloteh got a goal each from Sean Bon­val and Jodel Brown to hold off Prison Ser­vice FC to move up to fifth on the Di­vi­sion One stand­ings of the As­cen­sion In­vi­ta­tion­al Tour­na­ment at San Juan North Sec­ondary Ground, Bourg Mu­la­tresse, San Juan on Sun­day.

Bon­val got the open­er in the third-minute be­fore Brown made it 2-0 12 min­ures lat­er, on­ly for An­to­nio Au­guste to pull a goal back for Prison Ser­vice three min­utes be­fore the half-time in­ter­val.

Both teams then failed to add to their tal­ly in the sec­ond half, and with Jabloteh pick­ing up a third win in four match­es to move to nine points, lev­el with Club San­do FC who have played two match­es more, and six be­hind Mor­vant Cale­do­nia AIA who leads the ta­ble with max­i­mum 15 points, two clear of De­fence Force, both from five match­es each.

In Sun­day's oth­er match, Dwane James scored the last-minute equalis­er to earn Cunu­pia FC a 1-1 draw with Queen's Park Crick­et Club at St Mary's Col­lege Ground, Ser­pen­tine Road, St Clair, af­ter Shomarie An­tonie's net­ted a tenth-minute open­er for the host.

In Di­vi­sion Two, Pe­tit Val­ley/Diego Mar­tin Unit­ed and Bethel Unit­ed picked up valu­able home wins on Sun­day.

At St An­tho­ny's Col­lege Ground, Morne Co­co Road, West­moor­ings, Akeil Thomas' 52nd-minute strik­er earned Pe­tit Val­ley/Diego Mar­tin Unit­ed a 2-1 tri­umph against Harlem Strik­ers while Joki­ah Lea­cock, An­del No­ray and Tee Jay Cadiz were on tar­get for Bethel Unit­ed to beat RSSR FC, 3-1.

Results

Sun­day

Di­vi­sion One

San Juan Jabloteh 2 (Sean Bon­val 3rd, Jodel Brown 15th) vs Prison Ser­vice FC 1 (An­to­nio Au­guste 42nd)

QPCC 1 (Shomarie An­toine 10th) vs Cunu­pia FC 1 Dwane James 90th)

Di­vi­sion Two

Pe­tit Val­ley/Diego Mar­tin 2 (Ishaq Ab­dul­lah 19th, Akeil Thomas 52nd) vs Harlem Strik­ers 1 (Vic­tor De Sil­va 36th)

Bethel Unit­ed 3 (Joki­ah Lea­cock 24th, An­del No­ray 25th, Tee Jay Cadiz 35th) vs RSSR FC 1 (Glen Walk­er 48th)

Sat­ur­day

Di­vi­sion One

Mor­vant Cale­do­nia AIA 1 (John­ny Nor­eiga-Brito 85th) vs Po­lice FC 0

Club San­do FC 1 (Shack­iel Hen­ry 92nd) vs Guaya Unit­ed 0

La Hor­quet­ta Rangers 0 vs De­fence Force 0

Matu­ra Re­Unit­ed vs FC San­ta Rosa, - Did Not Play due to wa­ter­logged field

Di­vi­sion Two

San Fer­nan­do Gi­ants 2 (Ky­ron Williams 22nd, Kerville Je­re­mi­ah 24th) vs Club San­do Up­ris­ing Youths 0

Moru­ga FC 5 (Keion La Bor­de 19th, Kyle Mor­gan 29th, 71st, Nigel John 37th, De­von Moli­no 90th) vs Mara­bel­la Fam­i­ly C.C 1 (Kay­lon Padil­la 70th)

Po­lice FC 2 (Dwayne Gon­za­les 6th, Daniel Warn­er 50th) vs Erin FC 0

UTT 2 (Che Ben­ny 6th, Stevon Stoute 57th) vs De­porti­vo P.F 2 (An­drei Pacheco 27th, Justin Sadoo 36th)

Lat­est As­cen­sion Di­vi­sion Stand­ings

Di­vi­sion One

Teams*P*W*D*L*F*A*Pts
1. Mor­vant Cale­do­nia*5*5*0*0*12*5*15
2. De­fence Force*5*4*1*0*12*1*13
3. Cunu­pia FC*6*3*1*2*11*8*10
4. Club San­do*6*3*0*3*11*8*9
5. San Juan Jabloteh*4*3*0*1*8*5*9
6. San­ta Rosa*5*2*1*2*9*11*7
7. Po­lice FC*5*2*0*3*12*7*6
8. Guaya Unit­ed*5*2*0*3*4*6*6
9. La Horquetta Rangers*2*1*1*0*10*2*4
10. QPCC*5*0*3*2*6*12*3
11. Matu­ra Re­Unit­ed*5*0*1*4*4*25*1
12. Prison Ser­vice*5*0*0*5*5*14*0

Di­vi­sion Two

Teams*P*W*D*L*F*A*Pts
1. De­porti­vo*6*5*1*0*32*4*16
2. San F'do Gi­ants*6*5*1*0*18*1*16
3. UTT*6*3*3*0*16*8*12
4. Po­lice FC*6*4*0*2*8*8*12
5. Moru­ga FC*6*3*1*2*11*6*10
6. Bethel Unit­ed*6*2*2*2*7*8*8
7. RSSR FC*6*2*1*3*5*5*7
8. P.V/D.M*6*2*1*3*6*9*7
9. Up­ris­ing Youths*6*1*2*3*8*14*5
10. Erin FC*6*1*1*4*7*17*4

11. Harlem Strik­ers*6*1*1*4*5*19*4

12. Mara­bel­la*6*0*0*6*4*26*0

Up­com­ing Match­es - Resched­uled

(To­mor­row)

Di­vi­sion One

De­fence Force vs San Juan Jabloteh, Lar­ry Gomes Sta­di­um, Mal­abar, 4 pm

RELATED NEWS

Morvant Caledonia jump ahead of pack in Ascension.
By Joel Bailey (Newsday).

MORVANT CALEDONIA AIA jumped ahead of the pack in Division One of the Ascension Invitational Football Tournament on Saturday. Caledonia got an 85th minute winner from Venezuelan attacker Johnny Noreiga-Brito (who moved to the top of the scoring chart with six) to defeat Police (Pro League) 1-0 at the Larry Gomes Stadium, Arima.

Defence Force, the overnight leaders, dropped their first points of the season as they were held to a goalless draw by Terminix La Horquetta Rangers at the La Horquetta Recreation Ground, Arima.

Caledonia now sit top with a perfect 15 points from five games, with Defence Force next with 13 points from five matches.

Shackiel Henry found the back of the net, in the second minute of second half stoppage-time, as Club Sando FC edged Guaya United 1-0 at the Guayaguayare Recreation Ground while the match between struggling Matura ReUnited and FC Santa Rosa was abandoned due to a waterlogged outfield at the Matura Recreation Ground.

Deportivo Point Fortin remained in first place, in Division Two, despite a 2-2 draw against the University of Trinidad and Tobago (UTT) at the UTT O’Meara campus, Arima.

Che Benny put UTT in front after six minutes of play but veteran utility player Andrei Pacheco replied in the 27th with a deflected left-footed freekick, which went past the left of a flat-footed UTT goalkeeper Maenie Denoon.

Another midfielder, Justin Sadoo, netted Point Fortin’s second goal in the 36th minute.

T&T midfielder Judah Garcia whipped in a ball from the right flank towards his captain and team striker Hughtun Hector. The ex-T&T midfielder was unable to control the ball but Sadoo pounced on the loose ball and finished from close range.

Kishun Seecharan and skipper Kevaughn Connell missed glorious opportunities to tie the scores, but substitute Stevon Stoute duly obliged in the 67th – two minutes after replacing Benny.

Stoute was picked out by a delightful diagonal ball from left-back Jesus Perez and he placed his right-footed effort beyond the reach of the advancing keeper Denzil Smith.

UTT muffed a chance to take all three points in the 90th minute when substitute Reinaldo Atwell, was tripped in the penalty box by Ronell Paul saw his penalty saved by Smith.

San Fernando Giants moved level with Point Fortin with 16 points (but with an inferior goal difference) after a 2-0 victory over Club Sando Uprising Youths at the Guapo Recreation Ground, Point Fortin. Kyron Williams (22nd) and Kerville Jeremiah (24th) got their names on the scoresheet for the visitors.

Police (Super League) registered a similar 2-0 victory, over Erin FC, at the Larry Gomes Stadium, courtesy strikes from Dwayne Gonzales (20th) and Daniel Warner (50th).Moruga FC cruised to 5-1 triumph over the lowly Marabella Family Crisis Centre at the Grand Chemin Recreation Ground.

Kyle Morgan (29th and 71st), Keion La Rode (19th), Nigel John (37th) and Devon Molino (90th) were on target for Moruga, with Kaylon Padilla (70th) getting the consolation for Marabella.

Clubs call for Ascension extension.
By Joel Bailey (Newsday).

Ferguson says organisers ready as…

THERE IS a strong possibility that there will be a second round of matches in the Ascension Invitational Football Tournament, if the proposed T-League (combination of Pro League and Super League) does not materialise.

During an extraordinary general meeting of the TT Super League, clubs called for an extension of the Ascension Tournament, which is set to end at the end of September.

In a letter sent by TT Super League general secretary Peter Thomas to TT Football Association general secretary Camara David, “Based on the lack of information received from the TTFA regarding funding and the start date of the proposed T-League, clubs support the playing of a second round of the Ascension Invitational Tournament 2019.”

Richard Ferguson, a director at Terminix La Horquetta Rangers and the brainchild behind the $2.3 million Ascension tournament, is supportive of the call to continue the competition.

“We had a meeting with the clubs,” said Ferguson yesterday. “About 16-17 clubs agreed to play a second round because, whilst there are promises, the fact is that nothing has been happening. Lots of dates are being thrown out but nothing concrete.

“I want to make it clear that the Ascension League will not play unless it’s governed or sanctioned by the TTFA,” Ferguson continued. “(Also) we will only play if there is no other league. If there is some other football playing or the T League, we will step aside and let them play. If there is no other league, then we will try and fill the void.” Ferguson pointed out, “We are ready and prepared. We have fixtures and so on. We just need the sanction from the TTFA. We’re ready to go.”

T League commission member Brent Sancho bemoaned the lack of financial support, from both the FIFA Forward Programme and Government, towards the proposed unified local football league.

“We are still awaiting the monies from both the FIFA Forward Programme and the (government) subvention,” said Sancho. “Nothing has changed, and nothing will change unless that position (concerning the funding) changes. I don’t know what is expected to be done but that is the current position.” Asked if the T-League has sought corporate sponsorship, Sancho replied, “You can’t write to any corporate entity. We’ve had preliminary discussions but what are you going to write and tell them? We need these two sets of monies to start the League.

“If we have not had any sort of consultation of those monies, nothing could start,” he added. “You need the monies, not only for the clubs, but more importantly the administrative side, the referees, officials, all those other things that you’ll need to run a football league.”

Concerning the call for the Ascension to be continued, Sancho said, “The Pro League has a board meeting on Wednesday and I’m sure all these things would be discussed. I can’t say anything as it relates to the extension. All I’ll say is that I congratulate Mr Ferguson and Ascension for making sure that there was football being played.”

Ferguson is also pleased with the quality of the tournament thus far.

“It’s quite successful,” he said. “The level of football is very high. The public has been engaging (the players) in the community grounds.”

[Flex]

Army takes control of Ascension.
By Nigel Simon (Guardian).

Na­tion­al de­fend­er Cur­tis Gon­za­les scored a rear goal to earn De­fence Force a come-from-be­hind 2-1 win over San Juan Jabloteh to re­gain top spot in the 12-team Di­vi­sion One stand­ing of the As­cen­sion In­vi­ta­tion­al Tour­na­ment at Lar­ry Gomes Sta­di­um, Mal­abar, Ari­ma on Wednes­day.

Jabloteh, win­ners of three of their first four match­es, took the 28th minute via for­mer na­tion­al youth team strik­er Jodel Brown which his team took in­to the half-time in­ter­val.

Ten min­utes in­to the sec­ond half, Aaron Lester got the "Teteron Men" lev­el and with eight min­utes left in the con­test, Gon­za­les fired in the win­ner for De­fence Force to move to 16 points from six match­es, one more than un­beat­en Mor­vant Cale­do­nia AIA, who have a match in hand.

Tonight, sixth-placed FC San­ta Rosa will have a chance to break in­to the top four when they host Guaya Unit­ed, a fur­ther point be­hind, at the Ari­ma Mu­nic­i­pal Sta­di­um, Ari­ma, from 8 pm

To­mor­row (Sat­ur­day), Mor­vant Cale­do­nia will go af­ter a sixth straight win when they trav­el to Matu­ra Re­Unit­ed, in one of three match­es on the day in Di­vi­sion One.

Lat­est As­cen­sion Foot­ball League Stand­ings

Di­vi­sion One:

Teams*P*W*D*L*F*A*Pts
1. De­fence Force*6*5*1*0*14*2*16
2. Mor­vant Cale­do­nia*5*5*0*0*12*5*15
3. Cunu­pia FC*6*3*1*2*11*8*10
4. Club San­do*6*3*0*3*11*8*9
5. Jabloteh*5*3*0*2*8*6*9
6. San­ta Rosa*5*2*1*2*9*11*7
7. Po­lice FC*5*2*0*3*12*7*6
8. Guaya Unit­ed*5*2*0*3*4*6*6
9. T L. H Rangers*2*1*1*0*10*2*4
10. QPCC*5*0*3*2*6*12*3
11. Matu­ra Re­Unit­ed*5*0*1*4*4*25*1
12. Prison Ser­vice*5*0*0*5*5*14*0

Di­vi­sion Two

Teams*P*W*D*L*F*A*Pts
1. De­porti­vo*6*5*1*0*32*4*16
2. San F'do Gi­ants*6*5*1*0*18*1*16
3. UTT*6*3*3*0*16*8*12
4. Po­lice FC*6*4*0*2*8*8*12
5. Moru­ga FC*6*3*1*2*11*6*10
6. Bethel Unit­ed*6*2*2*2*7*8*8
7. RSSR FC*6*2*1*3*5*5*7
8. P.V/D.M*6*2*1*3*6*9*7
9. Up­ris­ing Youths*6*1*2*3*8*14*5
10. Erin FC*6*1*1*4*7*17*4
11. Harlem Strik­ers*6*1*1*4*5*19*4
12. Mara­bel­la*6*0*0*6*4*26*0

Up­com­ing Match­es

Di­vi­sion One

To­day (Sat­ur­day)

FC San­ta Rosa vs Guaya Unit­ed, Ari­ma Mu­nic­i­pal Sta­di­um, Ari­ma, 8 pm

To­mor­row

Po­lice FC vs De­fence Force, Lar­ry Gomes Sta­di­um, Mal­abar, 4pm

T. L. H Rangers vs Cunu­pia FC, Phase II, La Hor­quet­ta Rec. Grd, 6 pm

Matu­ra Re­Unit­ed vs Mor­vant Cale­do­nia AIA, Matu­ra Rec. Grd, 4 pm

On Sun­day

Prison Ser­vice vs QPCC, Youth Train­ing Cen­tre Grd, Arou­ca, 4 pm

Club San­do vs San Juan Jabloteh, Man­nie Ramjohn Sta­di­um, Train­ing Field, Mara­bel­la, 4 pm

[Flex]

Army whips Police to stay ahead.
By Nigel Simon (Guardian).

De­fence Force stayed a point clear of Mor­vant Cale­do­nia AIA at the top of Di­vi­sion One of the As­cen­sion In­vi­ta­tion­al Football Tour­na­ment with a come-from-be­hind 3-1 vic­to­ry over Po­lice FC in the sec­ond match of a dou­ble-head­er at the Lar­ry Gomes Sta­di­um, Mal­abar, yes­ter­day.

The win lift­ed the “Teteron Men” to 19 points from sev­en match­es, one ahead of Cale­do­nia AIA, who clob­bered Matu­ra Re­Unit­ed 5-1 and have a match in hand.

The law­men broke the dead­lock a minute in­to the sec­ond-half via Jameel Per­ry but Dar­ius Ol­livier­ra got De­fence Force lev­el with a de­flect­ed ef­fort 11 min­utes lat­er.

Jameel Coop­er then fired De­fence Force ahead in the 76th and two min­utes lat­er Re­on Moore sealed the vic­to­ry.

Up at Matu­ra Recre­ation Ground, Josi­ah Sylvester, Shem Clauzel, Radan­fah Abu Bakr, Lukas Ris­to and Sedale Mc Lean were all on the score­sheet for Cale­do­nia AIA be­fore Bren­don Figuera net­ted a late con­so­la­tion for the hosts.

On Fri­day night at the Ari­ma Mu­nic­i­pal Sta­di­um, FC San­ta Rosa de­feat­ed Guaya Unit­ed 3-1 with Os­ei Sandy (44th), John-Paul Rochford (49th) and Kevon Corn­wall (89th pen) find­ing the net. For Guaya Unit­ed, Akeil Paul scored in the 85th.

Last night, Ter­minix La Hor­quet­ta Rangers en­ter­tained Cunu­pia FC at the La Hor­quet­ta Recre­ation Ground, while to­day, Prison FC faces Queen’s Park Crick­et Club at YTC Ground, Arou­ca and Club San­do en­ter­tain San Juan Jabloteh, both from 4 pm.

In Di­vi­sion Two mean­while, Po­lice FC end­ed the un­beat­en run of joint-lead­ers De­porti­vo P.F with a 3-2 tri­umph in the open­ing match of the dou­ble-head­er at the Lar­ry Gomes Sta­di­um.

Nicholas Roach and Don­avon Der­rick net­ted in the 13th and 29th minute re­spec­tive­ly for Po­lice to lead 2-0 at the half-time in­ter­val.

Sev­en min­utes in­to the sec­ond-half An­drei Pacheco cut the lead in half for De­porti­vo, on­ly for Mekhi Brooks to re­store Po­lice’s two-goal cush­ion in the 78th at 3-1.

With the sec­onds tick­ing away, De­porti­vo man­aged to get a sec­ond item but it was too lit­tle too late as Po­lice held on for the win to climb to 15 points from sev­en match­es, one be­hind De­porti­vo P.F and San Fer­nan­do Gi­ants, with the lat­ter set to host Bethel Unit­ed at Man­nie Ramjohn Sta­di­um from 4 pm to­day, with a chance to grab sole pos­ses­sion of top spot.

In to­day’s oth­er match, Pe­tit Val­ley/Diego Mar­tin Unit­ed en­ter­tains Erin FC at St An­tho­ny’s Col­lege Ground, West­moor­ings, from 4 pm.

Scores:

(Di­vi­sion 1)

Au­gust 23:

FC San­ta Rosa 3 (Os­ei Sandy 44th, John-Paul Rochford 49th, Kevon Corn­wall 89th pen) v Guaya Unit­ed 1 (Akeil Paul 85th)

Yes­ter­day:

De­fence Force 3 (Dar­ius Ol­livier­ra 57th, Jameel Coop­er 76th, Re­on Moore 78th) v Po­lice FC 1 (Jameel Per­ry 46th)

Mor­vant Cale­do­nia AIA 5 (Josi­ah Sylvester 14th, Shem Clauzel 28th, Radan­fah Abu Bakr 47th, Lukas Ris­to 75th, Sedale Mc Lean 94th) v Matu­ra Re­Unit­ed 1 (Bren­don Figuera 82nd)

(Di­vi­sion Two)

Yes­ter­day:

Po­lice FC 3 (Nicholas Roach 13th, Don­avon Der­rick 29th, Mekhi Brooks 78th) v De­porti­vo P.F 2 (An­drei Pacheco 52nd pen, Nathaniel Gar­cia 92nd)

Up­com­ing match­es:

(Di­vi­sion One)

To­day:

Prison Ser­vice v QPCC, Youth Train­ing Cen­tre Grd, Arou­ca, 4 pm

Club San­do v San Juan Jabloteh, Man­nie Ramjohn Sta­di­um, Train­ing Field, 4 pm

(Di­vi­sion Two)

To­day:

Pe­tit Val­ley/Diego Mar­tin Utd v Erin FC, St An­tho­ny’s Col­lege Grd, West­moor­ings, 4 pm

San Fer­nan­do Gi­ants vs Bethel Unit­ed, Man­nie Ramjohn Sta­di­um, Mara­bel­la, 4 pm

[Tallman]

Jabloteh’s John tricks Club Sando
By Nigel Simon (T&T Guardian)

Shaquille John scored a sec­ond-half hat­trick to earn San Juan Jabloteh a thrilling come-from-be­hind 4-3 tri­umph over Club San­do in Di­vi­sion One of the As­cen­sion In­vi­ta­tion­al Tour­na­ment Sun­day.

Michael Bas­deo fired Club San­do ahead in the 25th minute at Man­nie Ramjohn Sta­di­um Train­ing Field in Mara­bel­la, on­ly for Sean Bon­val to hit back for Jabloteh from the penal­ty spot 12 min­utes lat­er.

For­mer na­tion­al strik­er Trevin Cae­sar re­stored the lead for Club San­do on the hour mark, but John then net­ted his first in the 71st minute to get Jabloteh even again.

How­ev­er, with­in three min­utes the An­gus Eve-coached Club San­do out­fit went ahead for the third time in the match thanks to Shack­iel Hen­ry and looked well set to hang on for all three points un­til John drew Jabloteh even again in the 86th. Then, a minute in­to time added on John banged home the win­ner from the penal­ty spot af­ter a han­dled ball in­fringe­ment.

The win, the fourth in six match­es for Jabloteh, moved them up to third with 12 points on the 12-team ta­ble, sev­en be­hind De­fence Force with a match in hand, while Mor­vant Cale­do­nia AIA are sec­ond with a max­i­mum 18 points. Club San­do slipped a spot to sixth with nine points.

In yes­ter­day’s oth­er match, Saleem Hen­ry’s lone 18th-minute strike was enough to earn Queen’s Park Crick­et Club their first win in six match­es, 1-0 over Prison Ser­vice FC, at the Youth Train­ing Cen­tre Ground, Arou­ca.

On Sat­ur­day night, Ter­minix La Hor­quet­ta Rangers stopped Cunu­pia FC 4-1 at the La Hor­quet­ta Recre­ation Ground, La Hor­quet­ta.

Leslie Rus­sell opened the scor­ing for the hosts in the tenth minute but Kevon ‘Show­time’ Wood­ley drew Cunu­pia lev­el in the 28th as both teams went in 1-1 at the in­ter­val.

Sev­en min­utes af­ter the restart, Jo­moul Fran­cois re­stored Rangers’ slim ad­van­tage be­fore Kadeem Corbin made it 3-1 in the 63rd, fol­lowed by Ross Rus­sell Jr’s 73rd-minute strike to seal all three points.

In Di­vi­sion Two, Yohannes Richard­son net­ted twice to lead San Fer­nan­do Gi­ants to a 5-2 win over Bethel Unit­ed at the Man­nie Ramjohn Sta­di­um Train­ing Field, Mara­bel­la and with it the lead on the 12-team ta­ble.

Richard­son got his goals in the 39th and 47th min­utes af­ter Kerville Je­re­mi­ah (1st) and Aki­do Joseph (37th) had giv­en Gi­ants a 2-0 lead. Ke­ston Grant got the fifth item in the 72nd while Bethel Unit­ed got a goal each from Do­minique Roberts (41st) and Tee Jay Cadiz (75th).

With the win, Gi­ants moved to 19 points from sev­en match­es, two ahead of De­porti­vo P.F, who suf­fered a first de­feat on Sat­ur­day against Po­lice FC 3-2.

In yes­ter­day’s oth­er match, Erin FC got the bet­ter of Pe­tit Val­ley/Diego Mar­tin Unit­ed 1-0 at St An­tho­ny’s Col­lege Ground, West­moor­ings, thanks to Eye­sse Riefer’s 13th-minute goal.

Re­sults:

(Di­vi­sion One)

Yes­ter­day:

QPCC 1 (Saleem Hen­ry 18) v Prison Ser­vice 0

San Juan Jabloteh 4 (Shaquille John 71, 80, 91 pen, Sean Bon­val 37 pen) v Club San­do 3 (Michael Bas­deo 25, Trevin Cae­sar 60, Shack­iel Hen­ry 74)

Sat­ur­day:

De­fence Force 3 (Dar­ius Ol­livier­ra 57, Jameel Coop­er 76, Re­on Moore 78) v Po­lice FC 1 (Jameel Per­ry 46)

Mor­vant Cale­do­nia AIA 5 (Joshua Sylvester 14, Shem Clauzel 28, Radan­fah Abu Bakr 47, Lukas Ris­to 75, Sedale Mc Lean 94) v Matu­ra Re­Unit­ed 1 (Bren­don Figuera 82)

La Hor­quet­ta Rangers 4 (Leslie Rus­sell 10, Jo­moul Fran­cois 52, Kadeem Corbin 63 Ross Rus­sell Jr 73) v Cunu­pia FC 1 (Kevon Wood­ley 28)

Fri­day:

FC San­ta Rosa 3 (Os­ei Sandy 44, John-Paul Rochford 49, Kevon Corn­wall 89 pen) v Guaya Unit­ed 1 (Akeil Paul 85)

(Di­vi­sion Two)

Yes­ter­day:

Erin FC 1 (Eye­sse Riefer 13th) v Pe­tit Val­ley/Diego Mar­tin Utd 0

San Fer­nan­do Gi­ants 5 (Yohannes Richard­son 39, 47, Kerville Je­re­mi­ah 1, Aki­do Joseph 37, Ke­ston Grant 72) v Bethel Unit­ed 2 (Do­minique Roberts 41, Tee Jay Cadiz 75)

Sat­ur­day:

Po­lice FC 3 (Nicholas Roach 13, Don­avon Der­rick 29, Mekhi Brooks 78) v De­porti­vo P.F 2 (An­drei Pacheco 52 pen, Nathaniel Gar­cia 92)

Harlem Strik­ers 2 (Courie Dhanoolal 14, Josi­ah Phillip 41) v Moru­ga FC 1 (Nigel John 70)

Club San­do UY 4 (Aalon Mi­nors 13 pen, 80, Shavon Daniel Di­az 24, 36) v Mara­bel­la FCC 0

UTT 5 (Kishun Seecha­ran 45, 91, Cyra­no Glen 18, Ke­vaughn Con­nell 31, Che Ben­ny 35) v RSSR FC 3 (Mic­ah Lan­siquot 15, 44, Glen Walk­er 50 pen)

RELATED NEWS

Rochford delights again as Santa Rosa ease past Guaya; spectator injured in off-field fracas in Arima.
By Roneil Walcott (Wired868).

FC Santa Rosa jumped to fourth spot in Division One of the Ascension Invitational Tournament last night after defeating Trinidad and Tobago Super League (TTSL) rivals Guaya United by a 3-1 margin at the Arima Velodrome.

When the ‘Big Cannons’ of Santa Rosa and Guaya meet—both have rotated the TTSL title over the past three seasons—there are usually fireworks.

In 2017, Rosa president Keith Look Loy had a running battle with the local refereeing body, which kicked off after his striker Rashad Griffith suffered a concussion in a collision with Guaya goalkeeper Shane Mattis. Look Loy accused referee Cecile Hinds and her officiating team of not doing enough to protect the players’ safety.

Guaya president Randy Hagley supported a move to replace Look Loy as the TTSL’s representative on the TTFA board earlier this year. And Hagley’s decision to hire Travis Mulraine as head coach would have only added to the tension too.

Let’s just say that Look Loy’s fondness for current Guaya coach Travis Mulraine could be likened to that of former England Premier League rivals Roy Keane and Patrick Vieira. There’s no love lost.

But Rosa were all smiles at the end last night and their diminutive playmaker John-Paul Rochford was a breath of fresh air—scoring a sublime goal and creating another—in a scrappy encounter that lacked genuine quality for much of the 90 minutes.

Rochford was not the only one to get spectators off their seats.

Around the 72nd minute mark, with the hosts leading 2-0 thanks to goals by Rochford and left back Osei Sandy, one male spectator came under attack by a group of men who hurled glass bottles in his direction. Supporters in the covered stands ran for safety as the crashing sound of bottles intensified, while the surprised victim seemed to cause more injury to himself in his bid to escape.

He was subsequently whisked away in an ambulance.

Meanwhile, with no visible police presence at the venue, the unruly assailants, who entered the covered stands in the second half, strolled out of the arena in the midst of the frantic melee.

Trinidad and Tobago Senior Men’s National Team coach Dennis Lawrence was in attendance and, while he must have been pleased with the maturity and poise shown by the 19-year-old Rochford—who recently earned his Senior Team debut against St Vincent and the Grenadines—the unsavoury incident in the stands may have been too close for comfort.

“In my forty years of watching football I never see something like this,” one spectator exclaimed.

“Trinidad really gone through yes,” another chimed in. “Look how easy you could get your death.”

After a momentary stoppage in play, referee Kwinsi Williams resumed proceedings and a new-look Rosa completed their return to winning ways. Having suffered heavy defeats to Cunupia FC (5-2) and Police FC (4-1) in Ascension Division One action, Rosa have undergone something of an overhaul and their current personnel bear little resemblance to last year’s triumphant TTSL outfit.

Midfielders Akeem ‘Froggy’ Garcia and Jesse Rampersad followed coach Derek King to HFX Wanderers in the Canadian Premier League, while former club captain Ryan ‘Fry’ Stewart has also left, after briefly coming out of retirement to feature in the early rounds of the Ascension Tournament.

Flankers Kheelon Mitchell and Kishun Seecharan and veteran utility player Noel Williams have also departed.

Rosa’s new brigade includes young talent such as Rochford, Rivaldo Coryat and Julio Noel and is reinforced with more experienced campaigners like Russel Alfred, Damani Richards and Soca Warriors custodian Marvin Phillip.

“We had six new starters here tonight, including Marvin Phillip, you cannot get a better goalkeeper than that,” Look Loy told Wired868. “We are bedding these players; some of them are National Under-20 boys. […] We have started a new project to get to the top of Trinidad and Tobago club football and these are just the early teething stages.”

Last night, with the defeats to Cunupia and Police still fresh in their minds, Rosa were merely trying to overcome the Guaya hurdle.

It wasn’t the vintage Guaya by any means. Distracted by ‘Guaya-fest’ in south-east Trinidad, the ‘Green Army’ turned up without their large support base and just 13 players on the night. Mulraine didn’t even bother to make a sub.

A disappointed Mulraine said inconsistent attendance by players in training sessions translated to the end product on the field of play.

“I am hugely disappointed with the result and I don’t think we deserved to lose 3-1,” said Mulraine. “It’s down to a lack of consistency in training. Some days you have a full complement of guys and other days you have six to eight players. It’s very frustrating as a coach.

“You actually have to have two sessions planned in your head [according to your turnout].”

With one team blooding six new players into their starting line-up and the other struggling to get a full turnout, the football spectacle was scrappy and disjointed for the most part, with sporadic flashes of brilliance and quality.

That quality often came from the boot of Rochford, who teed up a willing runner in Sandy with some silky skill down the left flank in the 44th minute. Upon receiving Rochford’s square pass just inside the area, Sandy drilled a left-footed shot into the bottom corner and beyond Mattis’ beefy arms.

“John-Paul is a quality young player for the future. I hope he continues to improve and keeps his feet on the ground and tries to leave Trinidad as soon as possible,” Mulraine said. “Allowing him to play in this League will be good for toughening him up a bit [but] he should be heading overseas soon.”

The Guaya players would probably share that same sentiment. In the earlier stages of the game, they used their physicality to impose themselves on the Rosa players.

But as the game wore on and Rosa reneged on the long ball strategy that was meat and drink for Guaya’s defensive duo of Kerwyn Navarro and skipper Glenton Wolfe, the hosts assumed control of the contest through snappy midfield interplay on the counter.

In the 49th minute, Rochford, who looked to be a man on a mission, received a pass from Alfred near the half line and parted a sea of red Guaya jerseys like Moses before unleashing a right-footed shot into the top corner from the edge of the area.

It was his fifth goal in the Ascension’s top flight and Mattis had absolutely no chance. The former National Under-17 and Under-20 captain began the season as a  ‘super sub’ but he must be the first name on Look Loy’s team sheet these days.

“We’re very proud of [Rochford]. He was literally born in Santa Rosa and came through the club’s ranks,” Look Loy said. “And now, we are seeing the benefits as he’s helping to lead the team.”

On the topic of leadership, Wired868 asked Look Loy about the status of the Rosa head coaching job, which was handed to former WASA FC coach Shurland David in March of this year.

“We signed a contract with Shurland David, taking us from April to December—one season. We said it was going to be a trial period,” Look Loy told Wired868. “At the end of May, he said that he had certain domestic issues to resolve. I told him to resolve them.

“[…] We explained that we would cover his back with whatever assistance he needed. That’s the last I’ve seen of him.”

Look Loy said it wasn’t his intention to take a hands-on approach with the team this year but he could not sit idly by and do nothing.

“We have taken over the responsibility without him,” said Look Loy. “Last season, I didn’t have a major role. But, this is my club and if the person who has been chosen as coach has disappeared, I will take on a greater role.

“I’m functioning as a technical director for this team, which is the role I perform for the club on a whole. I’m not going to waste my years of technical experience and knowledge and sit down on the side line in a situation like this.”

Against the run of play, Guaya attacker Akeil Paul glanced a header beyond a flat-footed Phillip in the 84th minute, after Wolfe floated in a beautiful set piece.

Mulraine wished the other Wolfe, Anthony, was on hand to help his team hunt for victory last night.

“I think [Anthony’s] loss was big for the team because he added that bit of quality in the midfield,” Mulraine said. “As you can see we are quite aggressive off the ball but when we win it we give it away far too easily. Anthony added that bit of calm and quality when we’re in possession.”

Guaya hopes of a late comeback were dashed when Rosa sub Kevon Cornwall calmly converted a 90th minute penalty, after being fouled in the area by Mattis.

Back to winning ways, Rosa will next face table toppers Defence Force. Look Loy is looking forward to the challenge.

“I have no doubt that the better and best Super League clubs could match any club in the Pro League. I’ve said that for years and I’m going to stick to it,” Look Loy said. “Now having said that, we’re going to meet the top club in the Ascension Tournament in Defence Force next week. They are the standard in the tournament thus far so we are going to measure my words against them next week.”

(Teams)

FC Santa Rosa (4-2-3-1): 1.Marvin Phillip (GK); 2.Nykoaba James, 19.Jesse Reyes (captain), 18.Damani Richards, 15.Osei Sandy; 21.Durwin Ross (12.Shaka Pilgrim 85), 11.Rivaldo Coryat; 24.Julio Noel (6.Kadeem Riley 81), 23.John-Paul Rochford, 14.Giovanni Abraham; 17.Russel Alfred (9.Kevon Cornwall 66).

Unused Substitutes: 23.Joel Johnson (GK), 3.Lincoln Brown, 25.Shakiyl Phillip.

Technical director: Keith Look Loy

Guaya United (4-1-4-1): 13.Shane Mattis (GK); 10.Patrick Parris, 23.Kerwyn Navarro, 24.Glenton Wolffe (captain), 21.Dakeil Ferreira; 55.Sylvon Sylvan; 22.Franklyn Romain, 8.Devin Mitchell, 16.Renaldo McIntosh, 7.Jody Allsop; 3.Akeil Paul.

Unused Substitutes: 1.Denzil Carabon (GK), 5.Rondell Ragoo.

Coach: Travis Mulraine

Referee: Kwinsi Williams

Wired868 Man of the Match: John-Paul Rochford (FC Santa Rosa)

Ascension Invitational Tournament - Division One Result

(Friday 23 August)

FC Santa Rosa 3 (Osei Sandy 44, John-Paul Rochford 49, Kevon Cornwall 90), Guaya United 1 (Akeil Paul 84) at Arima Velodrome.

[Flex]

Sando Giants top Ascension league.
By Narissa Fraser (Newsday).

After Deportivo Point Fortin handed first defeat

THE SAN Fernando Giants now top Division Two of the Ascension Invitational Tournament after Deportivo Point Fortin’s unbeaten run came to an end.

Deportivo suffered their first defeat of the season after six matches, losing 3-2 to Police FC at the Larry Gomes Stadium, on Saturday. On Sunday, the Giants took advantage of the then leaders dropping points, squashing Bethel United 5-2 to remain unbeaten.

Deportivo are now in second place of the Division Two table with 16 points, while the Giants have 19.

Also, on Sunday, in Division Two action, Erin FC defeated Petit Valley/Diego Martin United 1-0.

In Division One fixtures, Club Sando FC were beaten 4-3 by fellow TT Pro-League club San Juan Jabloteh, and Prison Service FC won their game against Queen’s Park 1-0.

Defence Force and Morvant Caledonia AIA maintained their unbeaten runs, winning their respective Division One games on Saturday. Defence Force trounced Police FC 3-1 while Caledonia defeated Matura ReUnited 5-1. Defence Force led Division One with 19 points and Caledonia have 18, with a game in hand.

Four other matches were played on Saturday. Crisis continued for Marabella Family Crisis Centre who were handed their seventh consecutive loss as they faced Club Sando Uprising Youths, who won 4-0.

Terminix La Horquetta Rangers continued their winning ways, defeating Cunupia FC 4-1, and Moruga FC lost 2-0 to Caroni’s Harlem Strikers.

On Friday, FC Santa Rosa defeated Guaya FC 3-1 at the Arima Velodrome.

The league continues this evening as the Rangers face Guaya FC, at 6 pm, at the La Horquetta Recreational Ground.

Queen’s Park will go up against San Juan Jabloteh at 4 pm tomorrow at the St Mary’s College Ground.

Division One results

(Friday 23 August)

FC Santa Rosa 3 (Osei Sandy 44, John-Paul Rochford 49, Kevon Cornwall 89 pen), Guaya United 1 (Akeil Paul 85) at Arima Velodrome;

(Saturday 24 August)

Police FC 1 (Jameel Perry 46), Defence Force 3 (Darius Ollivierra 57, Jameel Cooper 76, Reon Moore 78) at Larry Gomes Stadium;

Terminix La Horquetta Rangers 4 (Leslie Russell 10, Jomoul Francois 52, Kadeem Corbin 63, Ross Russell Jr 73), Cunupia FC 1 (Kevon Woodley 28) at La Horquetta;

Matura ReUnited 1 (Brendon Figuera 82), M’vt Caledonia AIA 5 (Joshua Sylvester 14, Shem Clauzel 28, Radanfah Abu Bakr 45+2, Lukas Risto 71, Sedale McLean 90+4 pen) at Matura Recreation Ground;

(Sunday 25 August)

Prison Service FC 0, QPCC 1 (Saleem Henry 18) at YTC, Arouca;

Club Sando 3 (Michael Basdeo 25, Trevin Caesar 60, Shackiel Henry 74), San Juan Jabloteh 4 (Sean Bonval 37 pen, Shaquille John 71, 86, 90+3 pen) at Mannie Ramjohn Stadium Training Field.

[Flex]

Creighton fires Rangers to 4th.
By Nigel Simon (Guardian).

Ja­mal Creighton fired in a hat-trick as Ter­minix La Hor­quet­ta Rangers ham­mered Guaya Unit­ed 7-0 to climb in­to the fourth spot in the As­cen­sion In­vi­ta­tion­al Foot­ball League Di­vi­sion One at La Hor­quet­ta Recre­ation Ground, La Hor­quet­ta on Tues­day night.

In the resched­uled match, na­tion­al strik­er Kadeem Corbin opened the scor­ing in the sev­enth minute for Rangers be­fore Samuel Delice dou­bled the ad­van­tage eight min­utes lat­er. The team got the third item two min­utes in­to time added on at the end of the first-half by Creighton.

Creighton made it 4-0 in the 57th minute with his sec­ond on the night while Jo­moul Fran­cois fired in his fifth of the cam­paign in the 74th to ex­tend the ad­van­tage to 5-0.

With nine min­utes left in the match, Creighton com­plet­ed his tre­ble to car­ry his sea­son tal­ly to four, be­fore Keron "Ball Pest" Cum­mings round­ed off the scor­ing four min­utes in­to time added-on

The vic­to­ry lift­ed Rangers to ten points from four match­es, lev­el with Cunu­pia FC and FC San­ta Rosa, but ahead of goal-dif­fer­ence.

At the top of the 12-team ta­ble is De­fence Force with 19 points from sev­en match­es, one ahead of Mor­vant Cale­do­nia AIA which has max­i­mum 18 points from six match­es, fol­lowed by San Juan Jabloteh with 12, and a match in hand as well.

To­mor­row, Rangers will have a chance to move one more spot up the ta­ble in­to third, when they en­ter­tain

sev­enth-placed Club San­do at La Hor­quet­ta from 6 pm

Tuesday's Results

Di­vi­sion One

La Horquetta Rangers 7 (Ja­mal Creighton 45th +2, 57th, 81st, Kadeem Corbin 7th, Samuel Delice 15th, Jo­moul Fran­cois 74th, Keron Cum­mings 90th+4) vs Guaya Unit­ed 0

Upcoming Fixtures

(Friday 30 August)

Terminix La Horquetta Rangers v Club Sando, 6pm, La Horquetta;

(Sunday 1 September)

Cunupia FC v Prison Service, 4pm, Larry Gomes Stadium;

Matura ReUnited v San Juan Jabloteh, 4pm, Matura Recreation Ground;

Guaya United v M’vt Caledonia AIA, 6pm, Guaya Recreation Ground;

Police FC v QPCC, TBD;

Defence Force v FC Santa Rosa, TBD.

[asylumseeker]

Ah notice that the referees' interpretation of when play should be allowed to continue is somewhat liberal. Some of those incidents would have been blown without hesitation in other countries rather than turning into multiple hacking events. Keep de football realistic although is big man ting and we have a bunch of uncompromising tacklers in T&T.

[Flex]

Army keeps perfect Morvant Caledonia at bay.
By Nigel Simon (Guardian).

Vet­er­an strik­er De­vorn Jorsling was among the goals once more as De­fence Force over­came FC San­ta Rosa when match­es in the As­cen­sion In­vi­ta­tion­al Foot­ball Tour­na­ment Di­vi­sion One ta­ble con­tin­ued on Sun­day.

Be­fore a crowd of close to 500 spec­ta­tors, Jorsling, the T&T Pro League all-time lead­ing scor­er with 160-plus goals, capped off a dom­i­nant first-half by con­vert­ing a penal­ty kick at the Hase­ly Craw­ford Sta­di­um, Train­ing Field, Mu­cu­rapo, af­ter Jameel Coop­er was fouled in the 18-yard box.

Three min­utes in­to the sec­ond half, Jerome Mc In­tyre dou­bled the lead for the "Teteron Men" from close range while Dar­ius Ol­livier­ra ham­mered home the third item in the 75th minute be­fore Os­ei Sandy got a con­so­la­tion item for San­ta Rosa, with the 'Goal of the Match' side foot vol­ley­ing in a well-flight­ed free-kick in mid-air.

The win kept De­fence Force ahead on the 12-team ta­ble with 22 points, one ahead of Mor­vant Cale­do­nia AIA, who edged host Guaya Unit­ed 2-1 at Guaya Recre­ation Ground, Guaya.

Shel­don Hold­er got the open­er for Mor­vant Cale­do­nia in the 11th, but Ronald Mc In­tosh drew Guaya lev­el in the 25th, on­ly for Ker­ry Daniel to net the de­ci­sive item in the 50th minute from the penal­ty spot to hand Mor­vant Cale­do­nia a sev­enth straight win ahead of their meet­ing with Ter­minix La Hor­quet­ta Rangers on Wednes­day at La Hor­quet­ta from 6 pm.

Third-placed Jabloteh stayed in the hunt cour­tesy a 3-1 de­feat of Matu­ra Re­Unit­ed at Matu­ra Recre­ation Ground to im­prove to 15 points from sev­en match­es, while Cunu­pia FC trounced Pris­ons Ser­vice 4-0 at Mal­abar to keep hold of the fourth spot, thanks to a tre­ble from Kevon "Show­time" Wood­ley to up his league-best tal­ly to nine, three more than Jorsling, and Po­lice and Queen's Park Crick­et Club drew 1-1 in the open­ing match at Mu­cu­rapo.

De­porti­vo blast Bethel be­hind Ke­sae beaver

Je­re­mi­ah Ke­sar end­ed De­porti­vo P.F two-match win­less streak in style by scor­ing a beaver trick in their come-from-be­hind 7-2 trash­ing of Bethel Unit­ed at Ma­haica Oval, Pt Fortin.

The vis­i­tors went ahead as ear­ly as the sixth minute through An­del No­ray, but Aden Noel (23rd and 42nd), and Ke­sar (37th) got replies for De­porti­vo to take a 3-1 lead at the break in front their home sup­port­ers.

No­ray again got the goal to start the sec­ond half, and cut the deficit to 2-3, but like the first half, the hosts re­spond­ed grand­ly with Akeem Red­head (69th), mak­ing it 4-2 fol­lowed by three more strikes from Ke­sar in the 70th, 75th, and 87th to up his sea­son tal­ly to nine goals, lev­el with team-mate An­drei Pacheco.

De­porti­vo is al­so lev­el at the top of the ta­ble with San Fer­nan­do Gi­ants with 19 points, but while the Pt Fortin-based club has played eight match­es, Gi­ants have played sev­en af­ter their sched­uled meet­ing with RSSR at Curepe Recre­ation Ground, did not come off.

The Uni­ver­si­ty of T&T are on­ly a point off the lead af­ter a 1-0 tri­umph against Erin FC at Erin via Che Ben­ny's 40th-minute ef­fort

RE­SULTS

On Fri­day

Di­vi­sion One:

T.L.H Rangers 0 vs Club San­do 0

On Sun­day

De­fence Force 3 (De­vorn Jorsling 45th, Jerome Mc In­tyre 48th, Dar­ius Ol­livier­ra 75th) vs FC San­ta Rosa 1 (Os­ei Sandy 85th)

Cunu­pia FC 4 (Kevon Wood­ley 6th, 56th, 90th, Mekheil Pe­ters 47th) vs Prison Ser­vice FC 0

Po­lice FC 1 (Adriel Kerr 52nd) vs QPCC 1 (Ronal­do Ja­cob 66th)

San Juan Jabloteh 3 (Kadeem Hutchin­son 5th, Shaquille John 36th, Elair Brew­ster 63rd) vs Matu­ra Re­Unit­ed 1 (Ger­ald Mal­oney 26th)

Mor­vant Cale­do­nia AIA 1 (Shel­don Hold­er 11th, Ker­ry Daniel 50th) vs Guaya Unit­ed FC 1 (Ronald Mc In­tosh 25th)

Di­vi­sion Two

On Sun­day

De­porti­vo P.F 7 (Je­re­mi­ah Ke­sar 37th, 70th, 75th, 87th, Aden Noel 23rd, 42nd, Akeem Red­head 69th) vs Bethel Unit­ed 2 (An­del No­ray 6th, 62nd)

UTT 1 (Che Ben­ny 40th) vs Erin FC 0

Harlem Strik­ers 4 (Vic­tor De Sil­va 51st, 90th, Corie Dhanoolal 72nd, An­dell All­sop 83rd) vs Po­lice FC 0

Mara­bel­la Fam­i­ly C.C 1 (Stephan Camp­bell 68th) vs Pe­tit Val­ley/Diego Mar­tin 0

Moru­ga FC 2 (Kevin John 62nd, Kervelle Turn­er 86th) vs Club San­do Up­ris­ing Youths 2 (Shavon Daniel Di­az 23rd, Kendell Davis 52nd)

[Flex]

Creighton double lifts Rangers in Ascension.
T&T Guardian Reports.

Ja­mal Creighton scored a pair of goals to lead Ter­minix La Hor­quet­ta Rangers past cel­lar-placed Pris­ons Ser­vice 4-1 and in­to the fourth spot in Di­vi­sion One of the As­cen­sion In­vi­ta­tion­al Foot­ball Tour­na­ment at the Phase II, La Hor­quet­ta Recre­ation Ground, La Hor­quet­ta, on Wednes­day night.

A for­mer na­tion­al youth strik­er, Creighton opened the scor­ing as ear­ly as the sixth minute while out-of-favour na­tion­al strik­er Kadeem Corbin made it 2-0 in the 22nd for his team to go in­to the half-time in­ter­val well placed.

Ten min­utes in­to the sec­ond half, Creighton com­plet­ed his dou­ble be­fore Keron "Ball Pest" Cum­mings added the in­sur­ance item in the 71st to se­cure a fourth win in six match­es, while Le­an­dro Subero got Pris­ons' con­so­la­tion two min­utes from full-time.

The vic­to­ry lift­ed Rangers to fourth with 14 points from six match­es, eight be­hind lead­ers De­fence Force, who have played two match­es more, while Mor­vant Cale­do­nia AIA are sec­ond with a per­fect 21 points from sev­en match­es, fol­lowed by San Juan Jabloteh with 15 points from sev­en match­es.

On Fri­day, round nine match­es kick off with Jabloteh and Club San­do at Ari­ma Mu­nic­i­pal Sta­di­um, Ari­ma from 8 pm.

(Teams)

La Horquetta Rangers (4-4-2): 20.Jabari St Hillaire (GK); 18.Jevon Morris, 5.Leslie Joel Russell, 77.Samuel Delice, 12.Caleb Sturge; 7.Aikim Andrews (24.Kishon Hackshaw 46), 8.Jamal Creighton (captain), 6.Kevon Goddard, 45.Kadeem Corbin; 21.Keyon Edwards (15.Keron Cummings 46), 10.Tyrone Charles (13.Jameel Antoine 77).

Unused substitutes: 16.Hayden Tinto.

Coach: Dave Quamina

Prison Service (4-3-3): 1.Jevon Bourne (GK); 20.Cordel Boyce-Bain (7.Joseph Brown 86), 18.Matthew Dufeal, 12.Kylon Gay, 26.Leon Lewis; 13.Richard Scoon, 4.Anthony Parris (captain), 5.Aaron Peters (19.Edric Daniels 86); 6.Herbert Donell (21.Leandro Subero 67), 27.Jordan Devonish (9.Kwesi Jeffrey 67), 17.Antonio Auguste (11.Nathan Julien 67).

Unused substitutes: 25.Nevorne McNicoll (GK), 2.Quason Hartman, 10.Shane Hospedales, 15.Anton Charles.

Coach: Anderson Veronique

Referee: Rodphin Harris

Wired868 Man of the Match: Kadeem Corbin (Wired868)

Results

T.L.H Rangers 4 (Ja­mal Creighton 6th, 57th, Kadeem Corbin 22nd, Keron Cum­mings 71st) vs Prison Ser­vice FC 1 (Le­an­dro Subero 88th)

Lat­est As­cen­sion Team Stand­ings

Di­vi­sion One

Teams*P*W*D*L*F*A*Pts
1. De­fence Force*8*7*1*0*20*4*22
2. Mor­vant Cale­do­nia*7*7*0*0*19*6*21
3. Jabloteh*7*5*0*2*16*11*15
4. T L. H Rangers*6*4*2*0*25*4*14
5. Cunu­pia FC*8*4*1*3*16*12*13
6. Club San­do*8*3*1*4*14*12*10
7. San­ta Rosa*7*3*1*3*13*15*10
8. Po­lice FC*7*2*1*4*14*11*7
9. QPCC*7*1*4*2*8*13*7
10. Guaya Unit­ed*8*2*0*6*6*18*6
11. Matu­ra Re­Unit­ed*7*0*1*6*6*33*1
12. Prison Ser­vice*8*0*0*8*6*23*0

Di­vi­sion Two

Teams*P*W*D*L*F*A*Pts
1. De­porti­vo*8*6*1*1*41*9*19
2. San F'do Gi­ants*7*6*1*0*23*3*19
3. UTT*8*5*3*0*22*11*18
4. Po­lice FC*8*5*0*3*9*14*15
5. Moru­ga FC*8*3*2*3*14*10*11
6. Harlem Strik­ers*8*3*1*4*11*20*10
7. Up­ris­ing Youths*8*2*3*3*14*16*9
8. Bethel Unit­ed*8*2*2*4*11*20*8
9. RSSR FC*7*2*1*4*8*10*7
10. P.V/D.M*8*2*1*5*6*11*7
11. Erin FC*8*2*1*5*8*18*7
12. Mara­bel­la*8*1*0*7*5*30*3

Up­com­ing Match­es

Di­vi­sion One

To­day

FC San­ta Rosa vs San Juan Jabloteh, Arim Mu­nic­i­pal Sta­di­um, Ari­ma, 6 pm

To­mor­row

Guaya Unit­ed vs QPCC, Guaya Rec. Grd, 6 pm

Rangers vs Mor­vant Cale­do­nia AIA, Phase II, La Hor­quet­ta Rec. Grd, 6 pm

On Sun­day

Club San­do FC vs De­fence Force, Man­nie Ramjohn Sta­di­um, Mara­bel­la, 4 pm

Prison Ser­vice FC vs Po­lice FC, YTC Ground, Arou­ca, 4 pm

Cunu­pia FC vs Matu­ra Re­Unit­ed, Lar­ry Gomes Sta­di­um, Mal­abar, 3.30 pm

[Flex]

Alexander, Jordan net for Caledonia Morvant.
By Rachael Thompson-King (Guardian).

A goal each from Joshua Alexan­der and Ryan Jor­dan helped Mor­vant Cale­do­nia AIA con­tin­ue its flaw­less run in Di­vi­sion One of the As­cen­sion In­vi­ta­tion­al Foot­ball Tour­na­ment on Sat­ur­day.

Play­ing at Phase Two La Hor­quet­ta Recre­ation ground, the leader met Ter­minix La Hor­quet­ta Rangers FC, com­ing away with a 2-0 vic­to­ry. It was the unit's eighth straight win for full 24 points to sit just ahead of clos­est chal­lenger sec­ond-placed De­fence Force with 22 points from eight match­es.

Play in the first half was bal­anced be­tween the teams as nei­ther was for­tu­nate enough to find the back of the net as the match re­mained score­less at half­time.

On the re­sump­tion, it took Mor­vant Cale­do­nia 12 min­utes to go ahead thanks to Alexan­der in the 57th minute. His team ral­lied on with that lead for much of the sec­ond ses­sion un­til Jor­dan gave his team a com­fort­able lead, scor­ing in the 78th minute to go up 2-0 which Mor­vant Cale­do­nia held on to when time ex­pired.

At Guaya Recre­ation ground, De­von Mod­este was no way in­tim­i­dat­ed by the host team scor­ing a hat-trick to lift Queen's Park Crick­et Club (QPCC) to a 3-0 vic­to­ry over Guaya Unit­ed FC.

Mod­este put his team out front with a pair of goals in the 26th and 30th minute to lead 2-1 at the half-way mark. Mid­way through the sec­ond half, he com­plet­ed his and his team's third goal to earn QPCC, its sec­ond win of the com­pe­ti­tion af­ter eight rounds of match­es.

QPCC is in the eighth spot while Guaya, who sank to its sev­enth loss, sits in 10th place in the 12-team com­pe­ti­tion.

In the lone match on Fri­day night, San Juan Jabloteh was held by FC San­ta Rosa to a 1-1 draw at the Ari­ma Velo­drome. Os­ei Sandy scored the open­er in the 63rd but thanks to Jodel Brown, Jabloteh got the equalis­er in the 75th.

In Di­vi­sion Two, the Uni­ver­si­ty of T&T (UTT) re­mains at the head of the ta­ble af­ter seal­ing its sixth win from nine match­es. Led by goals from Stevon Stoute in the eighth and Cyra­no Glen in the 31st, UTT de­feat­ed Harlem Strik­ers, 2-0 at Fred­er­ick Set­tle­ment ground in Ca­roni.

RE­SULTS

Di­vi­sion I

Sat­ur­day

Ter­minix La Hor­quet­ta Rangers FC 0 vs Mor­vant Cale­do­nia AIA 2 (Joshua Alexan­der 57th, Ryan Jor­dan 78th).

Guaya Unit­ed FC 0 vs QPCC 3 (De­von Mod­este 26th, 30th, 60th).

Fri­day

FC San­ta Rosa 1 (Os­ei Sandy 63rd) vs San Juan Jabloteh 1 (Jodel Brown 75th).

Di­vi­sion II

Sat­ur­day

Club San­do Up­ris­ing Youths 6 (Ron­del Phillip 12th, Kyle Ce­les­tine 18th, Shavon Daniel Di­az 30th, Kendell Davis 61st) vs Pe­tit Val­ley/Diego Mar­tin Unit­ed 2 (Ishaq Ab­dul­lah 45th, Jahi Solomon 52nd)

Harlem Strik­ers 0 vs UTT 2 (Stevon Stoute 8th, Cyra­no Glen 31st)

Erin FC 5 (Tyrese Reefer 31st, Is­rael Williams 40th, Shavon Fred­er­ick 47th, Key­on Alexan­der 72nd, Dar­ron Alex­is 84th) vs Bethel Unit­ed FC 1 (Omarr Charles 82nd)

[Flex]

Morvant Caledonia eyes Ascension title.
By Nigel Simon (Guardian).

Mor­vant Cale­do­nia AIA will hope to take a gi­ant step to­wards claim­ing the $250,000 top prize in the As­cen­sion In­vi­ta­tion­al Foot­ball Tour­na­ment Di­vi­sion One when they tack­le Cunu­pia FC at the Lar­ry Gomes Sta­di­um, Mal­abar from 3.30 pm on Sat­ur­day.

Cur­rent­ly, Mor­vant Cale­do­nia sits atop the 12-team ta­ble with max­i­mum 24 points from eight match­es, two ahead of idle De­fence Force who has played a match more fol­lowed by Ter­minix La Hor­quet­ta Rangers, Cunu­pia FC and San Juan Jabloteh with 17, 16 and 16 points re­spec­tive­ly.

A win on Sat­ur­day for Mor­vant Cale­do­nia will put them five points clear and need­ing to win one of their two re­main­ing fix­tures against De­fence Force (Sep­tem­ber 18) and FC San­ta Rosa (Sep­tem­ber 22) to claim the win­ners' cheque.

How­ev­er, a vic­to­ry or draw re­sult for the "Stal­lions" will leave the door open for the stut­ter­ing De­fence Force and the oth­er hope­fuls of reel­ing in the ta­ble lead­ers.

Else­where, Rangers will be at home to Po­lice FC at Phase II, La Hor­quet­ta Recre­ation Ground, from 6 pm while Jabloteh en­ter­tains Guaya Unit­ed at San Juan North Sec­ondary Ground, Bourg Mu­la­tresse Ground, San Juan from 4 pm, and on Sun­day, Prison Ser­vice and Matu­ra Re­Unit­ed will clash at Youth Train­ing Cen­tre Ground, Arou­ca from 4pm as well.

The chase for the $100,000 win­ners prize in Di­vi­sion Two is al­so far from over with De­porti­vo P.F and San Fer­nan­do Gi­ants lead­ing the ta­ble with 22 points from nine match­es each, a mere point ahead of the Uni­ver­si­ty of T&T (UTT) while fourth-placed Po­lice FC has 18 points.

Al­so, Sat­ur­day, UTT will host Gi­ants at their UTT Cam­pus O'Meara Road, Ari­ma from 7 pm with the win­ners set to stake a fur­ther claim for the ti­tle while on Sun­day, De­porti­vo P.F faces Moru­ga FC at Ma­haica Oval, Pt Fortin from 5 pm, and Po­lice makes the jour­ney to To­ba­go to play Bethel Unit­ed at Mt Gomery Ground.

Match Sched­ule

Di­vi­sion One

To­day

T.L.H Rangers vs Po­lice FC, Phase II, La Hor­quet­ta Rec. Grd, 6 pm

Jabloteh vs Guaya Utd, San Juan North Sec. Grd, San Juan, 4 pm

Cunu­pia FC vs Mor­vant Cale­do­nia AIA, Lar­ry Gomes Sta­di­um, Mal­abar, 3.30 pm

To­mor­row

Prison Ser­vice FC vs Matu­ra Re­Unit­ed, YTC Ground, Arou­ca, 4 pm

Di­vi­sion Two

To­day

UTT vs San Fer­nan­do Gi­ants, UTT Cam­pus, O'Meara Rd, 7 pm

Erin FC vs Club San­do Up­ris­ing Youths, Erin Rec. Grd, 6.30 pm

Harlem Strik­ers vs Mara­bel­la Fam­i­ly C.C, Fred­er­ick Set­tle­ment Grd, 5.30 pm

To­mor­row

De­porti­vo P.F vs Moru­ga FC, Ma­haica Oval, Pt Fortin, 5 pm

RSSR FC vs Pe­tit Val­ley/Diego Mar­tin Utd, Curepe Rec. Grd, Knowles St, Curepe, 4 pm

Bethel Utd vs Po­lice FC, Mt Gomery Rec. Grd, 6 pm

Lat­est As­cen­sion Team Stand­ings

Di­vi­sion One

Teams*P*W*D*L*F*A*Pts
1. Mor­vant Cale­do­nia*8*8*0*0*21*6*24
2. De­fence Force*9*7*1*1*21*6*22
3. T L. H Rangers*8*5*2*1*29*6*17
4. Cunu­pia FC*9*5*1*3*20*13*16
5. Jabloteh*8*5*1*2*17*12*16
6. Club San­do*9*4*1*4*16*13*13
7. San­ta Rosa*9*3*2*4*14*17*11
8. QPCC*9*2*4*3*11*17*10
9. Po­lice FC*8*2*2*4*15*12*8
10. Guaya Unit­ed*9*2*0*7*6*21*6
11. Matu­ra Re­Unit­ed*9*1*1*7*8*37*4
12. Prison Ser­vice*9*0*1*8*7*24*1

Di­vi­sion Two

Teams*P*W*D*L*F*A*Pts
1. De­porti­vo*9*7*1*1*43*9*22
2. San F'do Gi­ants*8*7*1*0*26*3*22
3. UTT*9*6*3*0*24*11*21
4. Po­lice FC*9*6*0*3*12*15*18
5. Club San­do U/Youths*9*3*3*3*20*18*12
6. Moru­ga FC*9*3*2*4*14*13*11
7. Erin FC*9*3*1*5*13*19*10
8. Harlem Strik­ers*9*3*1*5*11*22*10
9. Bethel Unit­ed*9*2*2*5*12*25*8
10. RSSR FC*8*2*1*5*8*12*7
11. P.V/D.M*9*2*1*6*8*17*7
12. Mara­bel­la*9*1*0*8*6*33*3

[Flex]

Rangers brush aside Parkites in Ascension.
By Joel Bailey (Newsday).

TERMINIX LA Horquetta Rangers brushed aside Queen’s Park 4-0 on Wednesday, in a rescheduled Division One clash, as the Ascension Invitational Football Tournament continued.

At the La Horquetta Recreation Ground in Arima, Rangers broke the deadlock courtesy of a 45th minute penalty from Jevon Morris.

Samuel Delice widened the lead in the 65th and national left-back Ross Russell jnr completed the win with items in the 89th and 90th minutes.

With the result, Rangers moved up to third spot with 17 points while the Parkites stayed in 10th place with 10 points.

In another rescheduled Division One match, Matura ReUnited notched their first win in the competition, courtesy of a 1-0 result over FC Santa Rosa. Gerald Meloney was the goal-getter for Matura, in the 45th.

Matches in both Division One and Division Two will continue this weekend.

STANDINGS

Division One

P*W*D*L*F*A*Pts
Morvant Caledonia*8*8*0*0*21*6*24
Defence Force*9*7*1*1*21*6*22
La Horquetta Rangers*8*5*2*1*29*6*17
Cunupia FC*9*5*1*3*20*13*16
San Juan Jabloteh*8*5*1*2*17*12*16
Club Sando FC*9*4*1*4*16*13*13
FC Santa Rosa*9*3*2*4*14*17*11
Queen’s Park*9*2*4*3*11*17*10
Police FC (P/League)*8*2*2*4*15*12*8
Guaya United*9*2*0*7*6*21*6
Matura ReUnited*9*1*1*7*8*37*4
Prison Service*9*0*1*8*7*24*1

Division Two

P*W*D*L*F*A*Pts
Deportivo P/Fortin*9*7*1*1*43*9*22
San Fernando Giants*8*7*1*0*26*3*22
UTT*9*6*3*0*24*11*21
Police FC (S/League)*9*6*0*3*12*15*18
Club Sando U Youths*9*3*3*3*20*18*12
Moruga FC*9*3*2*4*14*13*11
Erin FC*9*3*1*5*13*19*10
Harlem Strikers*9*3*1*5*11*22*10
Bethel United*9*2*2*5*12*25*8
RSSR FC*8*2*1*5*8*12*7
P Valley/DM United*9*2*1*6*8*17*7
Marabella Family CC*9*1*0*8*6*33*3

[Flex]

Cunupia hands Morvant Caledonia first defeat.
By Nigel Simon (Guardian).

Cunu­pia FC breathed new life in­to the race for the $250,000 top prize in the As­cen­sion In­vi­ta­tion­al Foot­ball Tour­na­ment Di­vi­sion One on Sat­ur­day night af­ter they trounced pre­vi­ous­ly un­beat­en lead­ers Mor­vant Cale­do­nia AIA 3-0 at the Lar­ry Gomes Sta­di­um in Mal­abar.

Kevon “Show­time” Wood­ley ex­tend­ed his league-best goal tal­ly to 11 with the 44th-minute go-ahead item for Cunu­pia in the blis­ter­ing heat, while Ha­keem Legall made it 2-0 in the 66th be­fore Michael Darko added the third item two min­utes from the fi­nal whis­tle for his fifth goal of the sea­son.

De­spite the loss, Mor­vant Cale­do­nia AIA stayed atop the 12-team ta­ble with 24 points from nine match­es, two ahead of idle De­fence Force, while Cunu­pia FC im­proved to third spot with 19 points, lev­el with San Juan Jabloteh and two more than Ter­minix La Hor­quet­ta Rangers, who fell 2-0 at home to Po­lice FC at the La Hor­quet­ta Recre­ation Ground via strikes from Eli­jah Bel­grave (89th) and Jameel Per­ry (90th).

In the oth­er ear­ly match yes­ter­day, Jabloteh whipped Guaya Unit­ed 3-1 at San Juan North Sec­ondary Ground, Bourg Mu­la­tresse Ground, with Shaquille John scor­ing in the 20th and 39th minute and Sean Bon­val in the 51st for the win­ners. Jody All­sop got a con­so­la­tion item for Guaya Unit­ed in the 92nd minute.

The Uni­ver­si­ty of T&T al­so made a bold state­ment in the chase for the $100,000 win­ner’s prize in Di­vi­sion Two with a 7-0 maul­ing of pre­vi­ous joint-leader San Fer­nan­do at the UTT Cam­pus at O’Meara Road, Ari­ma.

Lead­ing the way for UTT were Ke­vaughn Con­nell and Dil­lon Bartholomew with two goals each.

Con­nell got his items in the 59th and 65th while Bartholomew fired home his items in the 84th and 88th for UTT, who now lead the ta­ble with 24 points from ten match­es, two ahead of De­porti­vo PF and San Fer­nan­do Gi­ants, who have match­es in hand. The trio of Stevon Stoute (13th), Shel­don Nes­bitt (79th) and War­ren Chase 83rd added the oth­ers for UTT.

Re­sults

Di­vi­sion One

Cunu­pia FC 3 (Kevon Wood­ley 44th, Ha­keem Legall 66th, Michael Darko 88th) v Mor­vant Cale­do­nia AIA 0

San Juan Jabloteh 3 (Shaquille John 20th, 39th, Sean Bon­val 51st) v Guaya Unit­ed 1 (Jody All­sop 92nd)

Po­lice FC 2 (Eli­jah Bel­grave 89th, Jameel Per­ry 92nd) v TLH Rangers 0

Di­vi­sion Two

UTT 7 (Stevon Stoute 13th, Ke­vaughn Con­nell 59th, 65th, Shel­don Nes­bitt 79th, War­ren Chase 83rd, Dil­lon Bartholomew 84th, 88th) v San Fer­nan­do Gi­ants 0

Harlem Strik­ers 3 v Mara­bel­la Fam­i­ly Cri­sis Cen­tre 0

Up­com­ing Fix­tures

Di­vi­sion One

Tues­day, Sep­tem­ber 16

Po­lice FC v Club San­do, Hase­ly Craw­ford Sta­di­um, Train­ing Field, 8 pm

Wednes­day, Sep­tem­ber 17

Mor­vant Cale­do­nia AIA v De­fence Force, Lar­ry Gomes Sta­di­um, Mal­abar, 4 pm

TLH Rangers v FC San­ta Rosa, Phase II, La Hor­quet­ta Rec. Grd, 6 pm

Thurs­day, Sep­tem­ber 18

QPCC v San Juan Jabloteh, St Mary’s Col­lege Grd, Ser­pen­tine Rd, St Clair, 4 pm

Di­vi­sion Two

Wednes­day, Sep­tem­ber 18

RSSR FC vs San Fer­nan­do Gi­ants, Curepe Rec. Grd, Knowles St, Curepe, 7 pm

Stand­ings

Di­vi­sion One

Teams   P   W   D   L   F   A   Pts
1. Mor­vant Cale­do­nia   9   8   0   1   21   9   24
2. De­fence Force   9   7   1   1   21   6   22
3. Cunu­pia FC   10   6   1   3   23   13   19
4. Jabloteh   9   6   1   2   20   13   19
5. T L. H Rangers   9   5   2   2   29   8   17
6. Club San­do   9   4   1   4   16   13   13
7. San­ta Rosa   9   3   2   4   14   17   11
8. QPCC   9   2   4   3   11   17   10
9. Po­lice FC   9   3   2   4   17   12   11
10. Guaya Unit­ed   9   2   0   7   6   21   6
11. Matu­ra Re­Unit­ed   9   1   1   7   8   37   4
12. Prison Ser­vice   9   0   1   8   7   24   1

Di­vi­sion Two

Teams   P   W   D   L   F   A   Pts
1. UTT   10   7   3   0   31   11   24
2. De­porti­vo   9   7   1   1   43   9   22
3. San F’do Gi­ants   9   7   1   1   26   10   22
4. Po­lice FC   9   6   0   3   12   15   18
5. Harlem Strik­ers   10   4   1   5   14   22   13
6. Club San­do U/Youths   9   3   3   3   20   18   12
7. Moru­ga FC   9   3   2   4   14   13   11
8. Erin FC   9   3   1   5   13   19   10
9. Bethel Unit­ed   9   2   2   5   12   25   8
10. RSSR FC   8   2   1   5   8   12   7
11. P.V/D.M   9   2   1   6   8   17   7
12. Mara­bel­la   10   1   0   9   6   36   3

[Flex]

Balthazar puts Army in control.
By Nigel Simon (Guardian).

Team cap­tain Jer­wyn "Bal­ly" Balt­haz­ar was the toast of his De­fence Force team-mates as he con­jured up a win­ner five min­utes in­to time added-on to se­cure a 1-0 tri­umph over Mor­vant Cale­do­nia AIA and a one-point lead in the race for the $250,000 top prize in Di­vi­sion One of the As­cen­sion In­vi­ta­tion­al Foot­ball League on Wednes­day.

Both teams looked as though they would set­tle for a share of the points de­spite their valiant ef­forts, how­ev­er, Balt­haz­ar, a for­mer na­tion­al fut­sal soc­cer play­er as well, had oth­er ideas and fired in the de­ci­sive item to push his team to 25 points from 11 match­es, one ahead of Mor­vant Cale­do­nia AIA who suf­fered a sec­ond de­feat on the trot in the process af­ter a 0-3 loss to Cunu­pia FC at the same venue on Sat­ur­day last.

Team cap­tain Jer­wyn "Bal­ly" Balt­haz­ar was the toast of his De­fence Force team-mates as he con­jured up a win­ner five min­utes in­to time added-on to se­cure a 1-0 tri­umph over Mor­vant Cale­do­nia AIA and a one-point lead in the race for the $250,000 top prize in Di­vi­sion One of the As­cen­sion In­vi­ta­tion­al Foot­ball League on Wednes­day.

Both teams looked as though they would set­tle for a share of the points de­spite their valiant ef­forts, how­ev­er, Balt­haz­ar, a for­mer na­tion­al fut­sal soc­cer play­er as well, had oth­er ideas and fired in the de­ci­sive item to push his team to 25 points from 11 match­es, one ahead of Mor­vant Cale­do­nia AIA who suf­fered a sec­ond de­feat on the trot in the process af­ter a 0-3 loss to Cunu­pia FC at the same venue on Sat­ur­day last.

Last night in Di­vi­sion Two, third-placed San Fer­nan­do Gi­ants had a chance to go top of their ta­ble ahead of the fi­nal round of match­es on Sun­day with a vic­to­ry against third from bot­tom RSSR FC at Curepe Recre­ation Ground, Knowles Street, Curepe.

Go­ing in­to the match, De­porti­vo P.F led the ta­ble with 25 points from ten match­es, one ahead of the Uni­ver­si­ty of T&T while San Fer­nan­do Gi­ants sit third with 22 points and last night's en­counter in hand.

On Sun­day in the fi­nal round of match­es, Gi­ants and De­porti­vo P.F will meet at Man­nie Ramjohn Sta­di­um, Train­ing Field, while UTT hosts Mara­bel­la Fam­i­ly Cri­sis Cen­tre at O'Meara Road, Ari­ma, both from 4 pm.

RE­SULTS

Yes­ter­day

De­fence Force 1 (Jer­wyn Balt­haz­ar 95th) vs Mor­vant Cale­do­nia AIA 0

On Tues­day

Club San­do 2 (Nion Lam­my 18th, 48th) vs Po­lice FC 1 (Ka­reem Fre­itas 68tth)

Lat­est As­cen­sion Team Stand­ings

Di­vi­sion One

Teams*P*W*D*L*F*A*Pts
1. De­fence Force*10*8*1*1*22*6*25
2. Mor­vant Cale­do­nia*10*8*0*2*21*10*24
3. Cunu­pia FC*10*6*1*3*23*13*19
4. Jabloteh*9*6*1*2*20*13*19
5. T L. H Rangers*9*5*2*2*29*8*17
6. Club San­do*10*5*1*4*18*14*16
7. Po­lice FC*10*3*2*5*18*14*11
8. San­ta Rosa*9*3*2*4*14*17*11
9. QPCC*9*2*4*3*11*17*10
10. Guaya Unit­ed*9*2*0*7*6*21*6
11. Prison Ser­vice*10*1*1*8*11*27*4
12. Matu­ra Re­Unit­ed*10*1*1*8*11*41*4

Di­vi­sion Two

Teams*P*W*D*L*F*A*Pts
1. De­porti­vo*10*8*1*1*53*9*25
2. UTT*10*7*3*0*31*11*24
3. San F'do Gi­ants*9*7*1*1*26*10*22
4. Po­lice FC*10*6*0*4*13*17*18
5. Erin FC*10*4*1*5*16*20*13
6. Harlem Strik­ers*10*4*1*5*14*22*13
7. Club San­do U/Youths*10*3*3*4*21*21*12
8. Moru­ga FC*10*3*2*5*14*23*11
9. Bethel Unit­ed*10*3*2*5*14*26*11

10. RSSR FC*9*3*1*5*11*13*10

11. P.V/D.M*10*2*1*7*9*20*7

12. Mara­bel­la*10*1*0*9*6*36*3

Up­com­ing Match­es

Di­vi­sion One

To­day

QPCC vs San Juan Jabloteh, Dibe Rec. Grd, Long Cir­cu­lar, St James, 7 pm

RELATED NEWS

Footballers attack match referee.
By Walter Alibey (Guardian).

An in­ves­ti­ga­tion is un­der­way to de­ter­mine a pos­si­ble course of ac­tion, if any, to deal with play­ers of Mor­vant Cale­do­nia Unit­ed in Wednes­day's top of the ta­ble clash in the As­cen­sion In­vi­ta­tion­al Foot­ball League with De­fence Force at Lar­ry Gomes Sta­di­um in Mal­abar Ari­ma.

Video footage be­ing cir­cu­lat­ed showed as­sis­tant ref­er­ee Kirt Charles be­ing as­sault­ed by play­ers from the Mor­vant Cale­do­nia team while the match of­fi­cials were mak­ing their way off the pitch.

It is un­cer­tain what caused the al­ter­ca­tion, but it is un­der­stood that play­ers from the East­ern Stal­lions (Mor­vant Cale­do­nia Unit­ed) were fu­ri­ous over the Army's win­ning goal from Jer­wyn Balt­haz­ar which ap­peared to have come from an off-side po­si­tion in the 90+5 min­utes of the match. Fol­low­ing the goal the play­ers and sup­port­ers protest­ed, nev­er­the­less, the game was com­plet­ed and the Mor­vant Cale­do­nia play­ers con­tin­ued their protest of the goal with match ref­er­ee Crys­tal Sobers and Charles.

But yes­ter­day Guardian Me­dia Sports was re­li­ably in­formed by play­ers from De­fence Force that ref­er­ee Sobers al­leged­ly re­act­ed to con­stant ver­bal chal­lenges from the Mor­vant Cale­do­nia play­ers.

Her ac­tion led to an im­me­di­ate re­ac­tion by the play­ers, which then trig­gered Charles to spring in­to ac­tion to de­fend his fel­low ref­er­ee.

Video footage showed Charles at the end of a bru­tal at­tack, as play­ers and of­fi­cials from the De­fence Force play­ers mak­ing at­tempts to quell the mat­ter.

When con­tact­ed by Guardian Me­dia Sports on Thurs­day, Kyle Duprey who was the Match Com­mis­sion­er, was re­luc­tant to com­ment, say­ing the mat­ter was be­ing in­ves­ti­gat­ed by League of­fi­cials. He ex­plained, how­ev­er, the match was pro­fes­sion­al­ly done by some of the coun­try's top of­fi­cials (Crys­tal Sobers - match ref­er­ee; with as­sis­tants Kirt Charles and Ains­ley Rochard). He said Mor­vant Cale­do­nia play­ers ap­peared to have been en­raged with the last-minute goal, with such a hefty cash prize ($250,000) at stake.

Key of­fi­cial Richard Piper could not be reached for com­ment on Thurs­day. It is un­der­stood he had been en­gaged in meet­ings all day, try­ing to se­cure a le­gal opin­ion of how to treat with the mat­ter. Piper had al­so been at­tempt­ing to get the ac­counts of sev­er­al eye­wit­ness­es.

With the goal, the De­fence Force won the game 1-0 and re­turned to the top of the stand­ings with 25 points with one round of match­es to go. They lead Mor­vant Cale­do­nia Unit­ed by one point go­ing in­to their fi­nal game against Matu­ra Re Unit­ed on Sun­day.

Cale­do­nia will be up against FC San­ta Rosa's 'Big Can­nons', who were at the los­ing end of 7-0 drub­bing by Ter­minix La Hor­quet­ta Rangers at La Hor­quet­ta.

[Flex]

Creighton, Corbin fire Rangers to 7-0 win.
By Nigel Simon (Guardian).

Ja­mal Creighton and Kadeem Corbin scored two goals each to lead Ter­minix La Hor­quet­ta to a 7-0 ham­mer­ing FC San­ta Rosa in a resched­uled Di­vi­sion One clash in the As­cen­sion In­vi­ta­tion­al Foot­ball Tour­na­ment on Wednes­day night.

A for­mer na­tion­al youth strik­er, Creighton opened the scor­ing in the 12th minute be­fore na­tion­al se­nior team winger, Ross Rus­sell Jr made it 2-0 in the 32nd, fol­lowed by Creighton's sec­ond a minute in­to time added on at the end of the first-half for a 3-0 cush­ion.

It did not take long for Rangers to con­tin­ue the on­slaught in the sec­ond-half with Samuel Delice (64th) and Corbin (67th) fir­ing in their fourth and fifth items in quick suc­ces­sion to put the re­sult firm­ly be­yond doubt.

Nine min­utes from full-time Jo­moul Fran­cois ex­tend­ed the ad­van­tage to 6-0 be­fore Corbin com­plet­ed the scor­ing with his sec­ond of the night in the 87th-minute.

The vic­to­ry lift­ed Rangers to the third spot with 20 points from ten match­es, but out of con­tention for the $250,000 top prize which will be de­ter­mined in Sun­day's fi­nal round of match­es, with lead­ers De­fence Force and Mor­vant Cale­do­nia AIA, the two teams in the hunt.

De­fence Force leads the stand­ings with 25 points from ten match­es af­ter ek­ing out a 1-0 win over Mor­vant Cale­do­nia AIA on Wednes­day night to leave the lat­ter sec­ond on the ta­ble a point be­hind, af­ter los­ing their last two match­es and miss­ing the chance to clinch the ti­tle.

The duo of Cunu­pia FC and San Juan Jabloteh are joint fourth with 19 points, but the lat­ter had a chance to go third on the ta­ble last night (Thurs­day) with a win over Queen's Park Crick­et Club at Dibe Recre­ation Ground, Long Cir­cu­lar.

The run­ners-up in Di­vi­sion One will col­lect $125,000 while the third-place team will pock­et $75,000.

Al­so on Wednes­day night, in Di­vi­sion Two, third-placed San Fer­nan­do Gi­ants had a chance to go top of their ta­ble ahead of the fi­nal round of match­es on Sun­day when they were due to meet third from bot­tom RSSR FC at Curepe Recre­ation Ground, Knowles Street, Curepe.

How­ev­er, the match did not come off as sched­uled and will now be de­ter­mined by the Tour­na­ment Com­mit­tee.

Cur­rent­ly, De­porti­vo P.F leads the ta­ble with 25 points from ten match­es, one ahead of the Uni­ver­si­ty of T&T while San Fer­nan­do Gi­ants sit third with 22 points.

On Sun­day in the fi­nal round of match­es, Gi­ants and De­porti­vo P.F will meet at Man­nie Ramjohn Sta­di­um, Train­ing Field, while UTT hosts Mara­bel­la Fam­i­ly Cri­sis Cen­tre at O'Meara Road, Ari­ma, both from 4 pm.

RE­SULTS

Wednes­day

T.L.H Rangers 7 (Ja­mal Creighton 12th, 45th, Ross Rus­sell Jr 32nd, Samuel Delice 64th, Kadeem Corbin 67th, 85th, Jo­moul Fran­cois 81st) vs FC San­ta Rosa 0

De­fence Force 1 (Jer­wyn Balt­haz­ar 95th) vs Mor­vant Cale­do­nia AIA 0

Tues­day

Club San­do 2 (Nion Lam­my 18th, 48th) vs Po­lice FC 1 (Ka­reem Fre­itas 68tth)

[Tallman]

Footballers attack match referee
By Walter Alibey (T&T Guardian)

An in­ves­ti­ga­tion is un­der­way to de­ter­mine a pos­si­ble course of ac­tion, if any, to deal with play­ers of Mor­vant Cale­do­nia Unit­ed in Wednes­day's top of the ta­ble clash in the As­cen­sion In­vi­ta­tion­al Foot­ball League with De­fence Force at Lar­ry Gomes Sta­di­um in Mal­abar Ari­ma.

Video footage be­ing cir­cu­lat­ed showed as­sis­tant ref­er­ee Kirt Charles be­ing as­sault­ed by play­ers from the Mor­vant Cale­do­nia team while the match of­fi­cials were mak­ing their way off the pitch.

It is un­cer­tain what caused the al­ter­ca­tion, but it is un­der­stood that play­ers from the East­ern Stal­lions (Mor­vant Cale­do­nia Unit­ed) were fu­ri­ous over the Army's win­ning goal from Jer­wyn Balt­haz­ar which ap­peared to have come from an off-side po­si­tion in the 90+5 min­utes of the match. Fol­low­ing the goal the play­ers and sup­port­ers protest­ed, nev­er­the­less, the game was com­plet­ed and the Mor­vant Cale­do­nia play­ers con­tin­ued their protest of the goal with match ref­er­ee Crys­tal Sobers and Charles.

But yes­ter­day Guardian Me­dia Sports was re­li­ably in­formed by play­ers from De­fence Force that ref­er­ee Sobers al­leged­ly re­act­ed to con­stant ver­bal chal­lenges from the Mor­vant Cale­do­nia play­ers.

Her ac­tion led to an im­me­di­ate re­ac­tion by the play­ers, which then trig­gered Charles to spring in­to ac­tion to de­fend his fel­low ref­er­ee.

Video footage showed Charles at the end of a bru­tal at­tack, as play­ers and of­fi­cials from the De­fence Force play­ers mak­ing at­tempts to quell the mat­ter.

When con­tact­ed by Guardian Me­dia Sports on Thurs­day, Kyle Duprey who was the Match Com­mis­sion­er, was re­luc­tant to com­ment, say­ing the mat­ter was be­ing in­ves­ti­gat­ed by League of­fi­cials. He ex­plained, how­ev­er, the match was pro­fes­sion­al­ly done by some of the coun­try's top of­fi­cials (Crys­tal Sobers - match ref­er­ee; with as­sis­tants Kirt Charles and Ains­ley Rochard). He said Mor­vant Cale­do­nia play­ers ap­peared to have been en­raged with the last-minute goal, with such a hefty cash prize ($250,000) at stake.

Key of­fi­cial Richard Piper could not be reached for com­ment on Thurs­day. It is un­der­stood he had been en­gaged in meet­ings all day, try­ing to se­cure a le­gal opin­ion of how to treat with the mat­ter. Piper had al­so been at­tempt­ing to get the ac­counts of sev­er­al eye­wit­ness­es.

With the goal, the De­fence Force won the game 1-0 and re­turned to the top of the stand­ings with 25 points with one round of match­es to go. They lead Mor­vant Cale­do­nia Unit­ed by one point go­ing in­to their fi­nal game against Matu­ra Re Unit­ed on Sun­day.

Cale­do­nia will be up against FC San­ta Rosa's 'Big Can­nons', who were at the los­ing end of 7-0 drub­bing by Ter­minix La Hor­quet­ta Rangers at La Hor­quet­ta.

[asylumseeker]

This tournament is under TTFA sanction, is it not? That being the case, unlike the La Brea incident, the TTFA wields disciplinary authority.

Present are the ingredients for an interesting outcome, especially with the Pro League kick-off date supposedly around de corner.

Ascension seems to be the one tournament that teams are actually likely to receive prize money and boi is that evident.

[Flex]

Jabloteh brush aside Parkites.
By Joel Bailey (Newsday).

SAN JUAN JABLOTEH brushed aside Queen’s Park 3-0 on Thursday, at the St Mary’s Ground in St Clair, in a rescheduled Division One contest in the Ascension Invitational Football Tournament.

Jair Edwards scored a pair, in the 35th and 38th minutes, while Kadeem Hutchinson netted the other item, in the 43rd.

Wednesday’s rescheduled Division Two match between San Fernando Giants and RSSR FC, at the Curepe Recreation Ground, ended in a 3-0 result for Giants, by default, after RSSR were unable to present playing uniforms at the designated kick-off time at 7 pm.

League action, in both Divisions One and Two, will end with matches tomorrow and Monday.

[Flex]

Ascension throws Morvant Caledonia out League.
By Walter Alibey (Guardian).

Mor­vant Cale­do­nia Unit­ed, the T&T Pro League cam­paign­ers which was on the verge of win­ning the As­cen­sion In­vi­ta­tion­al Foot­ball League's $250,000 cash prize, was dis­qual­i­fied from hav­ing any fur­ther part in the tour­na­ment, for its play­er part in an al­leged as­sault of match of­fi­cials fol­low­ing a cru­cial match with De­fence Force on Wednes­day evening at the Lar­ry Gomes Sta­di­um in Mal­abar, Ari­ma.

The ban came from Tour­na­ment Or­ga­niz­er Richard Fer­gu­son, who in a re­lease is­sued on Fri­day night, said the de­ci­sion came af­ter a thor­ough in­ves­ti­ga­tion of the in­ci­dent.

Cir­cu­lat­ing video footage showed play­ers from the Mor­vant-based team al­leged­ly as­sault­ing as­sis­tant ref­er­ee Kirt Charles af­ter the match, which end­ed 1-0 in favour of the Army Coast-Guard Com­bi­na­tion team.

It is un­der­stood the Cale­do­nia play­ers were in­fu­ri­at­ed af­ter the game's on­ly goal scored by Jer­wyn Balt­haz­ar was al­lowed to stand by ref­er­ee Crys­tal Sobers.

Fer­gu­son in his re­lease said- "At match num­ber 51, the home game of Cale­do­nia against De­fence Force, was played at the Lar­ry Gomes Sta­di­um on 18th Sep­tem­ber 2019. At the end of the game, there was an as­sault in­volv­ing Cale­do­nia play­ers, team of­fi­cials, match ref­er­ees and as­sis­tant ref­er­ee. The match com­mis­sion­er sub­se­quent­ly made a re­port re­gard­ing the in­ci­dent and an in­ves­ti­ga­tion was con­duct­ed by the com­pe­ti­tion man­ag­er and oth­er of­fi­cials of the tour­na­ment. The in­ves­ti­ga­tion in­clud­ed eye­wit­ness ac­counts, video graph­ic ev­i­dence, state­ments from the match com­mis­sion­er, the ref­er­ee and the as­sis­tant ref­er­ee, along with play­ers, coach­es and of­fi­cials of Cale­do­nia. Af­ter seek­ing le­gal ad­vice and con­sult­ing the rules of the com­pe­ti­tion, along with FI­FA rules, a de­ci­sion was tak­en to dis­qual­i­fy Cale­do­nia from the As­cen­sion In­vi­ta­tion­al Tour­na­ment."

Con­tact­ed yes­ter­day for a com­ment, Ja­mal Shabazz, Cale­do­nia's chief cook and bot­tle - wash­er, said he had no com­ment to make. "No­body in Cale­do­nia has any com­ment to make on this mat­ter. Let the Scribes and the Phar­isees have their day. Our time will come," Shabazz ex­plained.

Mean­while, the as­sault on the match of­fi­cial was al­so con­demned by the mem­ber­ship of the T&T Foot­ball Ref­er­ee As­so­ci­a­tion, through its Gen­er­al Sec­re­tary Boni Bish­op.

A re­lease from that or­gan­i­sa­tion which al­so came on Fri­day stat­ed, "The mem­ber­ship of the T&T Foot­ball Ref­er­ees As­so­ci­a­tion con­demns in the strongest terms, the at­tack on the of­fi­cials of­fi­ci­at­ing the Mor­vant-Cale­do­nia AIA vs De­fence Force match played on Wednes­day 18th Sep­tem­ber 2019. Match Of­fi­cials pro­vide a nec­es­sary ser­vice in the con­duct of the game of foot­ball, mak­ing judg­ments on the match, in ac­cor­dance with, the Laws of the Game."

It added, "Play­ers and team of­fi­cials do dam­age when they seek to pro­nounce on sit­u­a­tions, which are pro­vid­ed for in the Laws, and worse when they re­act in ways which di­rect­ly com­pro­mise the safe­ty of our match of­fi­cials. Such ac­tions on­ly help to bring the game in­to dis­re­pute, and must be con­demned by all par­ties which have an in­ter­est in the sport."

"The T&T Foot­ball Ref­er­ees As­so­ci­a­tion will sup­port the strongest dis­ci­pli­nary ac­tion tak­en against the of­fend­ers in the sit­u­a­tion which has been well-doc­u­ment­ed in video ev­i­dence. Fail­ure to take se­ri­ous ac­tion will cre­ate a prece­dent which can con­tribute to even more se­ri­ous in­ci­dents in the fu­ture… this must be avoid­ed at all cost."

The tour­na­ment en­ters its fi­nal round to­day with lead­ers De­fence Force (25 points) set to clinch the ti­tle with a win over Matu­ra Re­Unit­ed at the Ato Boldon Sta­di­um, Cou­va from 4 pm. With Cale­do­nia out, third-place Cunu­pia FC, with 19 points, can on­ly bat­tle for the run­ner-up spot of $125, 000 when they tack­le Po­lice 3:30 pm at the Lar­ry Gomes Sta­di­um. San Juan Jabloteh, who are al­so on 19 points, can wres­tle the sec­ond-place prize if they win to­mor­row against Ter­minix La Hor­quet­ta Rangers at La Hor­quet­ta from 6 pm.

MATCH­ES TO­DAY

Cunu­pia FC vs Po­lice, 3:30 pm @Lar­ry Gomes Sta­di­um

Prison Ser­vice FC vs Guaya Unit­ed FC, 4 pm @YTC Arou­ca

De­fence Force vs Matu­ra Re­Unit­ed, 4 pm @ Ato Boldon Sta­di­um

QPCC vs Club San­do, 4 pm @ St Mary's Col­lege Grid

TEAMS*P*W*D*L*F*A*GD*PTS
1*De­fence Force F.C*10*8*1*1*22*6*16*25
2*Mor­vant Cale­do­nia AIA*10*8*0*2*21*11*10*24
3*Cunu­pia FC*10*6*1*3*23*13*19*22
4*Ter­minix La Hor­quet­ta Rangers F.C*10*6*2*2*36*8*28*20
5*San Juan Jabloteh*9*6*1*2*20*13*7*19
6*Club San­do F.C*10*5*1*4*18*14*4*16
7*Po­lice F.C*10*3*2*5*18*14*4*11
8*F.C. San­ta Rosa*10*3*2*5*14*24*-10*11
9*QPCC*9*2*4*3*11*17*-6*10
10*Guaya Unit­ed F.C*10*2*0*8*7*24*-17*6
11*Prison Ser­vice F.C*10*1*1*8*11*27*-16*4
12*Matu­ra Re­Unit­ed F.C*10*1*1*8*11*41*-30*4

[Flex]

Sancho: Positive developments.
By Joel Bailey (Newsday).

Ascension to sponsor re-branded Pro League…

THE TT Pro League is set to be re-branded as the United States clothing company Ascension will come on board as sponsor of the TT Pro League.

Ascension has been involved in domestic club football, as the sponsors of an Invitational Tournament which is expected to conclude by the end of this month.

Richard Ferguson, the brainchild of the Ascension Invitational Tournament, director of local pest control company Terminix and managing director of Terminix La Horquetta Rangers, yesterday confirmed that a sponsorship arrangement is in place for the Pro League, inclusive of television rights.

“There is a sponsorship arrangement,” said Ferguson. “There will be a launch and part of (the deal) is that we’ll be showing 20 matches on television. Ascension will be sponsoring the 20 matches.”

He continued, “We’ve bandied about some names and one of the names is the Ascension Premier League.”

According to a story on local website Wired868, the Ascension offer will be for one year only and Ferguson is expected to foot all production costs for the league’s coverage, which will likely be aired by regional sports channel SportsMax and a local entity.

Central FC’s owner and acting Pro League chairman Brent Sancho, is pleased with the positive approach shown by Ferguson towards the top-flight domestic competition.

“There has been some positive developments for the League,” said Sancho. “We’re very excited about the (forthcoming) season. We are now looking to put together a benefit game for Jason Marcano’s family, which should be the curtain-raiser for the season.”

Marcano, a former national midfielder, died in a vehicular accident in Arouca on May 30.

A week ago, the Pro League board rejected a proposal by the TT Football Association (TTFA), led by David John-Williams, to use FIFA Forward monies into the competition on the basis that the TTFA will oversee all funds due to the participating clubs, both from FIFA and subventions from the Ministry of Sport and Youth Affairs.

Sancho, in a diplomatic tone, said, “We at the Pro League will never leave the door closed for anyone, inclusive of the TTFA. The TTFA has been good to the Pro League in the past and, of course, we will want to leave the door open. There (have) been some positive developments for the league and, so, we will continue to move forward.

“If it’s to move forward without the TTFA, then so be it. If things come to fruition and both entities can work a way forward, then so be it as well. We’re always willing to work and partner with the governing body.”

[Flex]

Footballers attack match referee
By Walter Alibey (T&T Guardian)

An in­ves­ti­ga­tion is un­der­way to de­ter­mine a pos­si­ble course of ac­tion, if any, to deal with play­ers of Mor­vant Cale­do­nia Unit­ed in Wednes­day's top of the ta­ble clash in the As­cen­sion In­vi­ta­tion­al Foot­ball League with De­fence Force at Lar­ry Gomes Sta­di­um in Mal­abar Ari­ma.

Video footage be­ing cir­cu­lat­ed showed as­sis­tant ref­er­ee Kirt Charles be­ing as­sault­ed by play­ers from the Mor­vant Cale­do­nia team while the match of­fi­cials were mak­ing their way off the pitch.

It is un­cer­tain what caused the al­ter­ca­tion, but it is un­der­stood that play­ers from the East­ern Stal­lions (Mor­vant Cale­do­nia Unit­ed) were fu­ri­ous over the Army's win­ning goal from Jer­wyn Balt­haz­ar which ap­peared to have come from an off-side po­si­tion in the 90+5 min­utes of the match. Fol­low­ing the goal the play­ers and sup­port­ers protest­ed, nev­er­the­less, the game was com­plet­ed and the Mor­vant Cale­do­nia play­ers con­tin­ued their protest of the goal with match ref­er­ee Crys­tal Sobers and Charles.

But yes­ter­day Guardian Me­dia Sports was re­li­ably in­formed by play­ers from De­fence Force that ref­er­ee Sobers al­leged­ly re­act­ed to con­stant ver­bal chal­lenges from the Mor­vant Cale­do­nia play­ers.

Her ac­tion led to an im­me­di­ate re­ac­tion by the play­ers, which then trig­gered Charles to spring in­to ac­tion to de­fend his fel­low ref­er­ee.

Video footage showed Charles at the end of a bru­tal at­tack, as play­ers and of­fi­cials from the De­fence Force play­ers mak­ing at­tempts to quell the mat­ter.

When con­tact­ed by Guardian Me­dia Sports on Thurs­day, Kyle Duprey who was the Match Com­mis­sion­er, was re­luc­tant to com­ment, say­ing the mat­ter was be­ing in­ves­ti­gat­ed by League of­fi­cials. He ex­plained, how­ev­er, the match was pro­fes­sion­al­ly done by some of the coun­try's top of­fi­cials (Crys­tal Sobers - match ref­er­ee; with as­sis­tants Kirt Charles and Ains­ley Rochard). He said Mor­vant Cale­do­nia play­ers ap­peared to have been en­raged with the last-minute goal, with such a hefty cash prize ($250,000) at stake.

Key of­fi­cial Richard Piper could not be reached for com­ment on Thurs­day. It is un­der­stood he had been en­gaged in meet­ings all day, try­ing to se­cure a le­gal opin­ion of how to treat with the mat­ter. Piper had al­so been at­tempt­ing to get the ac­counts of sev­er­al eye­wit­ness­es.

With the goal, the De­fence Force won the game 1-0 and re­turned to the top of the stand­ings with 25 points with one round of match­es to go. They lead Mor­vant Cale­do­nia Unit­ed by one point go­ing in­to their fi­nal game against Matu­ra Re Unit­ed on Sun­day.

Cale­do­nia will be up against FC San­ta Rosa's 'Big Can­nons', who were at the los­ing end of 7-0 drub­bing by Ter­minix La Hor­quet­ta Rangers at La Hor­quet­ta.

MLS fines Timbers owner Merritt Paulson $100K for referee abuse.
Associated Press

Portland Timbers owner Merritt Paulson has been fined $100,000 by Major League Soccer for "misconduct directed at match officials."

The fine stems from the Timbers' 2-2 draw with the New England Revolution on Wednesday night. Portland led 2-1 going into stoppage time, but New England was awarded a penalty after a video review and evened the score.

The foul was controversial because it came after the announced stoppage time had already expired, and the referees appeared to miss a similar foul that would have given Portland a penalty earlier.

MLS did not reveal the nature of the misconduct in announcing the fine Friday.

[Flex]

Defence Force, Sando Giants lift titles.
By Nigel Simon (Guardian).

Yohannes Richard­son scored with the last strike of the match to earn San Fer­nan­do Gi­ants a 1-0 win over favourites De­porti­vo P.F in their win­ner-take-all de­cider of the As­cen­sion In­vi­ta­tion­al Foot­ball Tour­na­ment Di­vi­sion Two at the Man­nie Ramjohn Sta­di­um, Mara­bel­la on Sun­day.

With the win, Gi­ants end­ed with 28 points from 11 match­es and took home $100,000 while the Uni­ver­si­ty of T&T which ham­mered Mara­bel­la Fam­i­ly Cri­sis Cen­tre 9-0 end­ed in sec­ond place, a point be­hind for $65,000 while De­porti­vo slipped to third and col­lect­ed $35,000.

Go­ing in­to the fi­nal round of match­es, both Gi­ants and De­porti­vo P.F were joint top with 25 points from ten match­es, one ahead of the Uni­ver­si­ty of T&T.

How­ev­er, De­porti­vo P.F en­joyed a su­pe­ri­or goal-dif­fer­ence to Gi­ants, both on Sun­day, with the teams seem head­ed for a draw and the ti­tle to UTT, Richard­son con­jured up a 90th-minute strike to the de­light of his team-mates.

In Di­vi­sion One, Cunu­pia FC missed out on top-three fin­ish af­ter los­ing 2-1 to Po­lice FC with the tour­na­ment top scorer, Kevon "Show­time" Wood­ley, scor­ing one goal and miss­ing a vi­tal sec­ond from the penal­ty spot for the losers. He fin­ished with 12.

A win for Cunu­pia would have seen them leapfrog San Juan Jabloteh in­to third, but with de­feat, Cunu­pia stayed fourth to en­sure Jabloteh the $75,000 prize.

Tour­na­ment win­ners, De­fence Force col­lect­ed $250,000 while run­ners-up and host club, Ter­minix La Hor­quet­ta Rangers will re­ceive $125,00.

RE­SULTS

Di­vi­sion One

On Fri­day

T.L.H Rangers 5 (Ja­mal Creighton 30th, Aikim An­drews 42nd, Ross Rus­sell Jr 59th, 89th, Ty­rone Charles 91st) vs Jabloteh 0

On Sun­day

Prison Ser­vice 2 (Ky­lon Gay 33rd pen, Nathan Julien 86th) vs Guaya Unit­ed FC 0

Po­lice FC 2 (Keion Wil­son 45th, Michael Darko o.g 71st) vs Cunu­pia 1 (Kevon Wood­ley 21st)

De­fence Force 3 vs Matu­ra Re­Unit­ed 0 - by de­fault

Club San­do 2 (Keron Corn­wall 51st, 90th) vs QPCC 0

Di­vi­sion Two

On Sat­ur­day

Bethel Unit­ed 3 (Makan His­lop 72nd, Tee Jay Cadiz 80th, Azlmod­een Lei­th 84th) vs Harlem Strik­ers 1 (Matthew Lester 38th)

On Sun­day

San Fer­nan­do Gi­ants 1 (Yohannes Richard­son 90th) vs De­porti­vo P.F 0

Erin FC 3 (Shakule Williams 49th, Jalen Bris­tol 75th, 85th) vs RSSR FC 2 (Mic­ah Lan­siquot 36th, Hakim Gul­ston 55th)

UTT 9 (Dil­lon Bartholomew 6th, Keshon Carter 34th, Stevon Stoute 50th, Kishun Seecha­ran 65th, 70th, 81st, Che Ben­ny 67th, 79th, Stephen Richard­son o.g 90th) vs Mara­bel­la Fam­i­ly Cri­sis cen­tre 0

Po­lice FC 2 (Col­in Williams 50th, Keron Clarke 89th) vs Club San­do Up­ris­ing Youths 0

Pe­tit Val­ley/Diego Mar­tin Unit­ed 3 (Kaz­im Don­ald 22nd, Calvi Grazette 74th, 80th) vs Moru­ga FC 2 (Ke­iron La Rode 53rd, Kervelle Turn­er 56th)

Fi­nal As­cen­sion Team Stand­ings

Di­vi­sion One

Teams*P*W*D*L*F*A*Pts
1. De­fence Force*11*9*1*1*25*6*28
2. T L. H Rangers*11*7*2*2*41*8*23
3. Jabloteh*11*7*1*3*23*18*22
4. Cunu­pia FC*11*6*1*4*24*15*19
5. Club San­do*11*6*1*4*20*14*19
6. Po­lice FC*11*4*2*5*20*15*14
7. San­ta Rosa*11*4*2*5*17*24*14
8. QPCC*11*2*4*5*11*22*10
9. Prison Ser­vice*11*2*1*8*13*27*7
10. Guaya Unit­ed*11*2*0*9*7*26*6
11. Matu­ra Re­Unit­ed*11*1*1*9*11*44*4

NB: Mor­vant Cale­do­nia AIA was dis­qual­i­fied af­ter match day ten.

Lead­ing Scor­ers

12 - Kevon Wood­ley (Cunu­pia FC)

9 - Ja­mal Creighton (La Hor­quet­ta Rangers)

8 - Shaquille John (San Juan Jabloteh),

6 - De­vorn Jorsling (De­fence Force), Jameel Per­ry (Po­lice), Jo­moul Fran­cois, Ross Rus­sell Jr (La Hor­quet­ta Rangers)

Di­vi­sion Two

Teams*P*W*D*L*F*A*Pts
1. San F'do Gi­ants*11*9*1*1*30*10*28
2. UTT*11*8*3*0*40*11*27
3. De­porti­vo*11*8*1*2*53*10*25
4. Po­lice FC*11*7*0*4*15*17*21
5. Erin FC*11*5*1*5*19*22*16
6. Bethel Unit­ed*11*4*2*5*17*27*14
7. Harlem Strik­ers*11*4*1*6*15*25*13
8. Club San­do U/Youths*11*3*3*5*21*23*12
9. Moru­ga FC*11*3*2*6*17*25*11
10. RSSR FC*11*3*1*7*13*20*10
11. P.V/D.M*11*3*1*7*12*22*10
12. Mara­bel­la*11*1*0*10*6*45*3

Lead­ing Scor­ers

10 - Kerville Je­re­mi­ah (San Fer­nan­do Gi­ants), Kishun Seecha­ran (UTT)

9 - An­drei Pacheco (De­porti­vo P.F)

8 - Adan Noel (De­porti­vo P.F), Jo­hannes Richard­son ((San Fer­nan­do Gi­ants)

7 - Stevon Stoute (UTT)

RELATED NEWS

San F’do Giants clinch Ascension Div Two in dramatic style, as Yohannes penalises Deportivo.
By Amiel Mohammed (Wired868).

Former Trinidad and Tobago National Under-20 Team midfielder Yohannes Richardson wrote his name into San Fernando Giants folklore yesterday evening as his late penalty ensured a sensational finish to the inaugural Ascension Invitational Tournament Division Two title race.

Richardson’s strike was all that separated the Giants from southern rivals, Deportivo PF, who started the game leading the Division Two standings. And, remarkably, it thwarted a third team from stealing the crown, as a draw between Giants and Deportivo would have seen both sides leapfrogged by UTT FC, who clobbered Marabella Family Crisis Centre 9-0 in their final outing of the season at O’ Meara.

Over in Division One, there was an anticlimactic air at the Diego Martin Sporting Complex as newly crowned champions Defence Force FC were awarded a 3-0 win over Matura ReUnited by default in their final fixture of the season.

Matura officials, according to the Ascension Tournament organisers, claimed that: “the majority of [our] players have just indicated that they are unable to make the game due to work…” It might have created a scandal if the Army/Coast Guard combination were not already assured of the title due to the expulsion of Morvant Caledonia AIA and a late stumble by San Juan Jabloteh, who were whipped 5-0 by Terminix La Horquetta Rangers on Friday night.

Jabloteh still managed to hold on to third place, though, as Police FC edged Cunupia FC 2-1 in Diego Martin.

The final placings meant Defence Force pocketed the TT$250,000 first prize while Rangers and Jabloteh are due TT$125,000 and TT$75,000 respectively.

In Division Two, the top three cash pots were TT$100,000, TT$65,000 and TT$35,000 respectively. And, at kick off, Giants and Deportivo PF each had 25 points with the former leading on goal difference while UTT had 24 points. It turned yesterday’s affair in Marabella into a must-win contest.

And, as UTT stars Kishun Seecharan and Che Benny rained goals on Marabella FCC, Richardson got the one that matter at the Mannie Ramjohn to settle an exciting title chase.

“We know that we had to score to win the Ascension League,” said San Fernando Giants head coach, Brian Williams, after the game. “I think the players have sacrificed a lot and I think a victory like this one, they just only deserve it […] I just want them to enjoy the moment.”

The match itself was a tense, fiery affair that offered up entertainment in the individual battles. Richardson seemed part Rolls Royce, part monster truck in the middle of the park as he continuously bested the Deportivo midfield trio of Hughton Hector, Andrei Pacheco and Justin Sadoo.

Meanwhile, talented youngster Judah Garcia—who played the first half as Deportivo’s lone striker—was often outmuscled and dwarfed by the towering Akido Joseph and robust Kern Edwards. Deportivo head coach, Reynold Carrington, said the tactical shift was an attempt to cope with the loss of Judah’s brother, Nathaniel, who took up a contract in India last week. But, as Carrington admitted after the game, his team didn’t play to its or Judah’s strengths enough.

“Early part of the game we tried to go too direct with the presence they had at the back,” Carrington said. “They had a very tall presence at the back, and I think only in the early part of the second half we tried to put the ball down. They were very solid in the defence and prevented us from a lot of openings.”

Carrington certainly could not say the same for his own defenders in the 22nd minute, as central defender Frae Gervais tried to dribble out of trouble in his box, only to lose possession and gift Giants a clear sight on goal.

Luckily for Gervais, San Fernando’s Tevin DeBoulet found Denzil Smith in top form as the goalkeeper parried his point-blank effort and then clawed the follow-up shot around the post with a brilliant right-handed save.

As the game wore on, clean sights at goal were rare, but with the title on the line, the tension was palpable.

Richardson’s influence grew as the clock ticked over, and he even bellowed a few disgruntled remarks towards his teammates for fluffing their lines after his good work.

“Yohannes is one of the true livewires of his team. I think he should even be knocking on the national team doors,” said coach Williams. “[He] is one of our key players and as you can see here today, he gave an energy to the team so the team then can play. We missed him and Kerville Jeremiah when we lost against UTT.”

There was not an ounce of misinformation in Williams’ evaluation too. Having Richardson and Jeremiah on the field offered a massive boost to Giants’ hopes. However, had Rashby Mc Phie not been in a lenient mood, they could have been down to 10 men with 20 minutes to play.

Deportivo midfielder Akeem Redhead had only been on the field for a few seconds when he was met with a horrendous lunging tackle from Edwards. Luckily for Giants fans, McPhie only flashed a yellow card.

Players were getting antsy now. The experienced Pacheco, under pressure, appeared to swing an elbow at San Fernando flanker Keston Grant. McPhie showed yellow yet again.

Tensions rising. Title and prize money at stake. Then came the big call. Penalty!

McPhie pointed to the spot instantly after he ruled that Gervais pulled Jeremiah down in the box.

Carrington later described it as a ‘soft penalty’ and an incensed Smith kicked the ball away in disgust at the decision. There was nothing ‘soft’ about the power and precision of Richardson’s subsequent penalty kick, though, as he rifled the ball into the corner.

With one kick, Richardson simultaneously slayed two teams as his effort would have provoked groans by not only Deportivo fans but from UTT’s as well.

Deportivo’s attempts to find an equaliser were in tatters when Pacheco received his marching orders for a second yellow. It was a bridge too far after that.

“I think coming at the end, we were definitely up for it. It just didn’t go our way today,” said Carrington. “Tough loss. Again, congratulations to San Fernando Giants.”

Bathed in the glory of victory, Williams was now keen to focus on the upcoming Super League season.

“Thanks to everybody. I think the Ascension League was a competitive one. Thanks to the Almighty and my staff. And we [are] looking forward to the Super League this year. And we try to take it step by step.”

(Teams)

Deportivo Point Fortin (4-2-3-1): 1.Denzil Smith (GK); 3. Steven Joseph, 4.Frae Gervais, 21.Ronell Paul, 5.Isaiah Garcia; 6.Justin Sadoo, 14.Andrei Pacheco; 2.Jeremiah Kesar (10.Akeem Redhead), 7.Hughton Hector (C), 9.Adan Noel (18.Elijah Alleyne); 11.Judah Garcia.

Unused substitutes: 12.Miguel Payne (GK), 16.J’van Smith, 19.Kevin Moodie, 22.Dale Bishop, 23.Jeremy Primus.

Head Coach: Reynold Carrington

San Fernando Giants (4-2-3-1): 35.Stefan Berkeley (GK); 28.Jamal DuBarry, 26.Akido Joseph, 4.Kern Edwards, 9.Keon Figaro; 5.Yohannes Richardson, 27.Odell Fitzallen (C); 21.Rayon Alleyne (2.Akiel Charles), 19.Tevin DeBoulet (11.Ken Bhola), 13.Keston Grant (23.Terrell Williams); 29.Kerville Jeremiah (3.Jezneel Duntin).

Unused substitutes: 7.Arvid Applewhite, 22.Denton Headley.

Head Coach: Brian Williams

Referee: Rashby McPhie

Man of the Match: Yohannes Richardson (San Fernando Giants)

Ascension Invitational Tournament

Division One results

(Friday 27 September)

Terminix La Horquetta Rangers 5 (Jamal Creighton 30, Aikim Andrews 42, Ross Russell Jr 59, 89, Tyrone Charles 90+1), San Juan Jabloteh 0 at Phase Two, La Horquetta;

(Sunday 29 September)

Prison Service FC 2 (Kylon Gay 33 pen, Nathan Julien 86), Guaya United 0 at San Juan North ground;

QPCC 0, Club Sando 2 (Keron Cornwall 51, 90+1) at St Mary’s College ground;

Cunupia FC 1 (Kevon Woodley 21), Police FC 2 (Keion Wilson 45+1, Michael Yaw Darko OG 71) at Diego Martin Sporting Complex;

Defence Force 3, Matura ReUnited 0 at Diego Martin Sporting Complex;

*—D/Force awarded result by default

Division Two results

(Saturday 28 September)

Bethel United 3 (Makan Hislop 72, Tee Jay Cadiz 80, Azimodeen Leith 84), Harlem Strikers 1 (Matthew Lester 38) at Mt Gomery Recreation Ground;

(Sunday 29 September)

UTT FC 9 (Dillon Bartholomew 6, Keshon Carter 34, Stevon Stoute 50, Kishun Seecharan 65, 70, 81, Che Benny 67, 79, Stephen Richardson OG 90), Marabella Family CC 0 at UTT, O’ Meara;

Police FC 2 (Colin Williams 50, Keron Clarke 89), Club Sando Uprising Y’ths 0 at Teacher’s Training College, Valsayn;

Petit Valley/D’go Martin Utd 3 (Kazim Donald 22, Calvi Grazette 74, 80), Moruga FC 2 (Keion La Rode 53, Kervelle Turner 56) at St Anthony’s College Ground;

Erin FC 3 (Shakquile Williams 49, Jalen Bristol 75, 85), RSSR FC 2 (Micah Lansiquot 36, Hakim Gulston 55) at Erin Recreation Ground;

San Fernando Giants 1 (Yohannes Richardson 90 pen), Deportivo PF 0 at Mannie Ramjohn Stadium Training Field.

[Flex]

$4M Ascension Football League awaits approval.
By Walter Alibey (T&T Guardian).

The 2020 season of the Ascension Invitational Football League (AIFL) is missing the approval of the FIFA-appointed Normalisation Committee which is headed by chairman, Robert Hadad, for approval to kick-off.

Informational reaching Guardian Media Sports on Thursday is that the three-tier competition received authorisation from the Confederation of North, Central America and the Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF), which was sent to the Hadad-led normalisation committee, who in turn is expected to relay the message via letter, to the organisers of the Ascension Football League.

According to a source close to the league, approval from CONCACAF was sought because the League was expected to culminate into a regional play-off among the Caribbean's top clubs, with three teams from T&T, and one each from Barbados, Guyana and Jamaica. The Ascension League is expected to mushroom into an 'Island Cup' play-off, however, this will be withheld this year due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Guardian Media Sports reached out to Hadad via a WhatsApp message to find out if approval for the League had to come from his committee, and if authorisation had already been granted by the CONCACAF. However, up to press time, there was no response.

According to the source, the League could kick off a month after approval is given. "Once that happens, then the organisers will send out invitations to all the clubs in T&T to participate."

This year the tournament will be a three-tier competition with 10 teams in the top tier, likely to comprise of teams from the T&T Pro League: a second-tier which is set to feature 10 clubs from the T&T Super League and a third tier, which will comprise teams from the six Regional Associations - Northern, Southern FA, Eastern FA, Central FA, Tobago FA and the Eastern Counties Football Union (ECFU). The competitions will be based on a home and away format.

According to the source, "There will be prize monies totalling $594, 000. All referees will also be paid.

The tournament will also mark a return of Friday Night Football, as there will be live coverage of a doubleheader every week in the top tier, on regional Sports Television Network SPORTS MAX, from either the Diego Martin Sports Complex, the La Horquetta facility, which is the home ground of Terminix La Horquetta Rangers and the newly refurbished Police grounds, at the St James Barracks in Long Circular.

It is understood that attempts are also underway to have the live Friday night matches streamed on the internet as well as shown live by a local television station CNC3.

Meanwhile, W Connection Football Team, a multiple-times winner of the T&T Pro League and AC Port-of-Spain will take no part in the Ascension League. Contacted yesterday W Connection Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Renee John-Williams said a preliminary decision was taken that the club will not participate in the League this year, pending further receipt of information from the organisers, which could change their decision. "But thus far a decision was taken to not participate," John-Williams said.

The 'Savonetta Boys' as they are popularly known, did not take part in the tournament last year, along with the AC Port-of-Spain which is formerly North East Stars.

AC Port-of-Spain owner and managing director Ryan Nunes said he will first await confirmation from the normalisation committee before a decision is made at his club.

Defence Force won the league's 2019 League 1 competition, while San Fernando Giants won League 2. The League is managed and financed by Richard Ferguson, who is the owner of Terminix La Horquatta Rangers FC.

[Flex]

Ascension tournament to kick off August 14.
By Joel Bailey (Newsday).

THE second annual Ascension Football Tournament will kick off on August 14, with all local football clubs invited to compete.

This tournament will be the first major football event in T&T since the COVID19 restrictions have been eased by the Government.

Richard Ferguson, main organiser and managing director of Terminix La Horquetta Rangers, said on Tuesday, “We have been given the sanction from the TTFA (TT Football Association). We have invited every single men’s (club) in T&T to participate.”

Ferguson, who is also a certified chartered accountant said, “We’ll have three divisions. Division Three will be the (teams from the) zones, Division One should be mostly Pro League clubs, Division Two will be Super League clubs.”

Ferguson pointed out that teams will have until 4pm on Friday to register. There will be no registration, nor appearance fee, but teams will be vying for $494,000 in prize monies.

In the inaugural competition last year, Defence Force prevailed in the First Division and San Fernando Giants copped the Second Division.

This year, the tournament is set to run for 18 to 24 weeks, according to Ferguson.

Teams interested in competing in the 2020 Ascension Tournament may contact tournament director Kieron Edwards on WhatsApp at 327-6406 or by email at lee1jack@gmail.com.

The prize money at stake is:

Division One: TT$100,000 (first place), TT$50,000 (second place) and TT$20,000 (third place);

Division Two: TT$50,000 (first place), TT$24,000 (second place), TT$10,000 (third place);

Division Three (for each zone): TT$24,000 (first place), TT$10,000 (second place), TT$6,000 (third place).

[Flex]

Ferguson hails ‘Ascension II’, football competition returns with up to 92 teams and live broadcasts
By Lasana Liburd (Wired868).

The Ascension Tournament will again kickstart Trinidad and Tobago’s domestic calendar in 2020, as Terminix La Horquetta Rangers managing director Richard Ferguson confirmed an expanded competition is just three weeks away.

The Ascension Invitational debuted in 2019 with 24 clubs, competing in two divisions across Trinidad, chasing a combined TT$650,000 in prize money.

This year, Ferguson intends to take the Ascension nationwide as he extended invitations to all six football zones as well, while the tournament should include two rounds of action instead of just one.

The total prize money now stands at TT$494,000 but the overall cost looks set to double from TT$2.3 million in 2019 to an estimated TT$4.3 million, with as many as 92 clubs expected to be involved.

“We want everybody in Trinidad and Tobago to be able to play football,” said Ferguson. “We will run Division One and Two. Division Three will be run by the zones but we will pay for the referees and pay the prize money.”

Eastern Football Association (EFA) president Kieron Edwards will serve as tournament director—Trinidad and Tobago Football Association (TTFA) director of football, Richard Piper, held that role last year.

Every single senior men’s team in the country, according to Ferguson, is invited to compete. Registration is free and the deadline for signing up is 4pm on 24 July.

The tournament is sanctioned by the TTFA and should run from 14 August to either December or early February, according to the number of participants.

The prize money at stake is:

Division One: TT$100,000 (first place), TT$50,000 (second place) and TT$20,000 (third place);

Division Two: TT$50,000 (first place), TT$24,000 (second place), TT$10,000 (third place);

Division Three (for each zone): TT$24,000 (first place), TT$10,000 (second place), TT$6,000 (third place).

Ferguson budgeted to pay the airfare for one Tobago team in the Division One and Two competitions respectively, apart from the ‘Sister Isle’ clubs that will compete in the Tobago Zone.

It is possible that the top two tiers may be reduced to 10 clubs each, according to the outcome of financial negotiations with referees.

“A big factor is the cost of referees,” said Ferguson. “[…] If I can’t get [their costs] down, I will have to go with 10.”

Ferguson will not sacrifice the zonal competitions, though.

“The zones are a very critical area, as it is a feeder for the second division and the first division,” said Ferguson. “And it can be run at a minimal cost, compared to everything else.”

Last year, the Ascension Invitational featured a weekly 30-minute round-up show, which was produced by Wired868 and broadcast on Flow Sports.

This season, there will be 18 double headers at the La Horquetta Phase II ground which will be broadcast live on cable television and at least one local channel, as well as streamed on the tournament website. (The production company for the 2020 tournament has not been selected yet.)

La Horquetta games will involve two rhythm sections—as opposed to one last season—and 12 dancers/cheerleaders. The venue itself has had another facelift, valued at TT$250,000, with refurbished stands, toilets and VIP room as well as new substitutes’ benches and electronic billboards.

“This is a watershed moment for local football,” said Ferguson. “The key is the tv. We are putting Trinidad and Tobago football on tv all over the world, which means more exposure for players.”

Current TTFA president William Wallace and his predecessor David John-Williams both promised three tier competitions under a single umbrella. Ferguson, again, beat them both to it by sourcing the money from Ascension—a largely unknown sports apparel company, which hopes to do business in the region.

In fact, the Terminix director said he is using the same TT$1.2 million promised to a revamped ‘Ascension Pro League’ to run the upcoming competition. Last September, the Pro League board agreed to Ferguson’s proposal for its competition, only to subsequently stall on the execution of their deal, with a TTFA election campaign in full swing that involved Wallace, Ferguson and John-Williams, who is the president of W Connection.

Connection was one of five clubs who voted not to go ahead with the Ascension Pro League along with San Juan Jabloteh, Morvant Caledonia United, AC Port of Spain and Point Fortin Civic.

“This is the same money we budgeted for the Pro League tournament that they choose not to execute,” he said.

The Ascension Pro League would have given clubs a share of the tournament’s income and television rights as well as an equal slice of a TT$500,000 cash pot.

In contrast, the Ascension Tournament offers free registration and potential prize money but no appearance fee.

Last season, W Connection, AC Port of Spain and Civic opted out of the Ascension Invitational competition. It is left to be seen whether they will play this year or wait again for the resumption of the Pro League.

Covid-19 restrictions means limited patrons. Ferguson estimated his income at La Horquetta last season at roughly TT$50,000 per game ‘between the bar and admission’. But, with football in a state of uncertainty, he again stepped forward with an offer.

He said the response from interested clubs so far, particularly in the lower divisions, has been overwhelming.

“People are crying out for football,” said Ferguson. “I have a professional team and they need to play football. And I feel it will set a very good example of what real professional football in Trinidad is like.

“[…] We would love to make it a permanent fixture within the football; and if you ask the clubs, most of them would want it to be a permanent thing.”

Ferguson scoffed at suggestions that he might walk away from local football due to his unsuccessful tilt at the TTFA presidency.

“Losing the elections doesn’t faze me,” said Ferguson, who claimed to have invested millions in the local game over the past two years. “We invested a lot of money in La Horquetta and we continue to invest.

“[…] I’m in football for the long term. You wouldn’t invest that kind of money and just walk away from it. I won’t get emotional about losing an election.”

Ferguson never misses an opportunity to discuss his swashbuckling Rangers team, which finished second in the 2019 Ascension competition as well as in last season’s First Citizens Bank Cup and Pro League respectively. He had their scoring statistics from each competition at the tip of his tongue.

“[…] This season, you will see a different Rangers—a totally different philosophy, strategy, tactics and play,” he said. “They’re gone up to another level.”

Last season, Defence Force lifted the inaugural Ascension Invitational top prize with Rangers and San Juan Jabloteh in second and third place respectively. Morvant Caledonia were controversially booted out of the competition after an altercation with match officials. They were second at the time.

San Fernando Giants won the second division followed by UTT FC and Deportivo PF.

They will now have the chance to defend their respective titles.

Once more, the Ascension Tournament will not ‘replace, restrict or substitute’ any current TTFA competition, which means that it would not get in the way if the Pro League or Trinidad and Tobago Super League decide to resume.

Last season, the TTFA, then headed by John-Williams, refused to sanction a second round of the competition. With two rounds and up to 24 weeks already guaranteed, the Ascension Tournament has already demonstrated its durability.


Editor’s Note: Teams interested in competing in the 2020 Ascension Tournament may contact tournament director Kieron Edwards on WhatsApp at 327-6406 or by email at lee1jack@gmail.com.

[Flex]

Ascension set for Friday kick-off pending final approval.
By Jelani Beckles (Newsday).

ASCENSION director Richard Ferguson is hopeful that the second annual Ascension Football Tournament will kick off on Friday, once the league gets final approval on Wednesday.

The Ascension League will include teams that normally compete in the TT Pro League and the TT Super League. The first division will feature teams predominantly from the TT Pro League, the second division will comprise teams from the TT Super League and the third division will include teams from the six zones throughout T&T.

Defence Force won the inaugural first division title in 2019 and San Fernando Giants won the second division.

Ferguson, speaking to Newsday on Sunday, said, “We due to start Friday coming, but we still have to get final confirmation from the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Sport (and Youth Affairs). They have a meeting on Wednesday (and) once we get final confirmation from them we due to start on Friday.”

Ferguson is aware of the rise in covid19 cases in T&T, but with covid19 measures in place the competition can be played.

“We have our covid19 protocols to follow which is there will be no spectators, you have to wear masks, the temperatures of everyone will be tested before they play...the normal protocols for covid.” To date, T&T has recorded 279 cases of the virus.

Spectators will get the opportunity to get a taste of the action as matches will be shown on TV. “We are hoping to show it live on Sportsmax, a double header on Fridays and hopefully I believe games will be shown on TV6.” Ferguson said people could also stream matches live.

Once the league kicks off on Friday it will be the first major football competition locally since covid19 started to affect TT in March.

Ferguson, who is also the managing director of Terminix La Horquetta Rangers, said the official fixtures will be released after the meeting is held on Wednesday.

Ten teams will compete in the first division and ten will line up in the second division. A total of 70 additional teams are expected to battle in the six zones.

The league is expected to run for four months from August to December. Teams will play one match per week for the duration of the league with matches being held on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

RELATED NEWS

Army, Giants set for Ascension play on Friday.
T&T Guardian Reports.

Providing Ascension Football League financer Richard Ferguson gets the final approval tomorrow from the relevant authorities, the 2020 season will get going on Friday with a double-header minus spectators at the Phase II Recreation Ground in La Horquetta from 6 pm.

In the opening match, the 2019 League Two winners San Fernando Giants, will kick-off League One action against former powerhouse Central FC while two hours later, reigning League One champions, Defence Force will do battle with Terminix La Horquetta Rangers FC.

Matches will we played on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays only.

A sources close to the league operations told Guardian Media Sports on Monday that, the 2020 season of the Ascension Invitational Football League (AIFL) has gotten the approval of the FIFA-appointed Normalisation Committee which is headed by businessman Robert Hadad, who is the chairman to kick-off and is now awaiting financial word from Ministry of Health and Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs, as well as the Sports Company of T&T (Sportt) officials with regards to safety and health measures that need to be put in place due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

The league which is now in its second year and will see competition in three divisions, as compared to two last year, also got approval from the Confederation of North, Central America and the Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF).

Both the League One and Two Divisions will comprise ten clubs each, while League Three will comprise of clubs from the Northern Football Association, Eastern Football Association, Tobago Football Association, Southern Football Association, Central Football Association, and the Eastern Counties Football Union.

According to a source, approval from CONCACAF was sought because the League was expected to culminate into a regional play-off among the Caribbean's top clubs, with three teams from T&T, and one each from Barbados, Guyana and Jamaica.

The Ascension League is expected to mushroom into an 'Island Cup' play-off, however, this will be withheld this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The source pointed out, "There will be prize monies totalling $594, 000. All referees will also be paid.

The tournament will also mark a return of Friday Night Football, as there will be live coverage of a double-header every week in the top tier, on regional Sports Television Network SPORTS MAX, from either the Diego Martin Sports Complex, the La Horquetta facility, which is the home ground of Rangers and the newly refurbished Police grounds, at the St James Barracks in Long Circular.

It is understood that attempts are also underway to have the live Friday night matches streamed on the internet as well as shown live by a local television station

Meanwhile, W Connection Football Team, a multiple-times winner of the T&T Pro League will take no part in the Ascension League.

The 'Savonetta Boys' as they are popularly known, did not take part in the tournament last year, while AC Port-of-Spain which is formerly North East Stars have entered this season, after also opting out last year.

[Flex]

FC Santa Rosa pulls out of Ascension League.
By Jonathan Ramnanansingh (Newsday).

FC SANTA Rosa has pulled out of all local football competitions for the remainder of 2020 as a precautionary measure to protect club personnel and staff from contracting covid19.

The club has opted to forfeit its participation in the Ascension Invitational League and any other tournament within this duration. Additionally, a decision will be made in the coming weeks regarding the club’s football school which comprises over 100 children.

With the second annual Ascension Invitational still awaiting confirmation by the Ministry of Health for an August 14 kickoff, FC Santa Rosa will not be featured this time around.

Club president Keith Look Loy confirmed the club’s decision to stay away.

“We took that decision in principle several weeks ago and we were monitoring the situation. When we saw the rapid spike and increase in cases, our motto right now is life before football. We cannot, in good conscience, expose players, coaches and officials to these health risks. FC Santa Rosa is observing the situation and will be guided by further information from the Ministry of Health,” said Look Loy.

The TT Super League president also revealed that Matura FC, Erin FC and Queen’s Park have also chosen to omit themselves from the Ascension tourney due to similar circumstances.

With the competitive youth season also pushed back courtesy the novel virus, FC Santa Rosa currently awaits a decision by the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Education on the resumption of school and extracurricular activities.

Depending on how the situation evolved, the club would only then know how to proceed with its school programme.

“We have a football school with well over 100 children. We’re going to keep looking at this and as much as we can stay in line with the government regarding the reopening of school. We remain vigilant and will make a decision on that as well. If you can’t control adults, you have no chance of controlling kids. The decision is we are not playing adult football and we’re going to finalise our decision on the football school in the coming weeks,” he added.

Look Loy also called on national sporting organisations to let good sense prevail before sending children back out to play sport. Due to coronavirus, the National Youth League was also cancelled in July.

“Every sporting organisation needs to make up its mind on how it wants to proceed with covid19. We are not telling people don’t play football but FC Santa Rosa has taken a public decision to not play. We can’t expose our people to this virus,” he said.

With schools still on vacation, club age group representative teams would have still been playing in the Youth League at this time. However, FC Santa Rosa remains committed to protecting their players, officials and staff and plans to resume domestic competition in 2021.

“The club hasn’t (kicked) a ball since March. If it is, this is what has to be done to safeguard our members, then so be it,” he concluded.

[Flex]

Ferguson: Brace for Friday night football! Six Pro League teams confirmed for 2020 Ascension.
By Lasana Liburd (Wired868).

The Trinidad and Tobago domestic football calendar should resume on Friday 14 August—pending a final meeting with the Ministry of Health—with 20 clubs ready to kick off in the Ascension Tournament and more than twice that number awaiting start dates in their respective zones.

Central FC are scheduled to open the competition against 2019 Ascension Division Two winners San Fernando Giants from 6pm at the La Horquetta Recreation Ground in Phase II. Reigning Division One champions Defence Force face last season’s runners-up, Terminix La Horquetta Rangers, from 8pm at the same La Horquetta venue.

Last season, Wired868 produced a half-hour round-up of the Ascension competition, which was carried on Flow Sport. However, this year, there will be live double headers carried every Friday evening on SportsMax and streamed live online. TV6 is also expected to broadcast at least one match each Friday.

Ascension director Richard Ferguson, who is also managing director of Terminix La Horquetta Rangers, said local football fans should prepare for an exciting competition with ‘a lot of attractive football’.

The prize money at stake is:

1. Division One: TT$100,000 (first place), TT$50,000 (second place) and TT$20,000 (third place);

2. Division Two: TT$50,000 (first place), TT$24,000 (second place), TT$10,000 (third place);

3. Division Three (for each zone): TT$24,000 (first place), TT$10,000 (second place), TT$6,000 (third place).

“This tournament will be unprecedented in terms of the prize money on offer—Ascension is the only football competition in the country that pays prize money,” Ferguson told Wired868. “And the big thing this year is it will be on television. Every Friday night, there will be a double header carried live on SportsMax and on the internet; and I think TV6 will also carry one of those games. That is the big change this year.”

Ferguson and tournament director Kieron Edwards, who is also the Eastern Football Association (EFATT) president, are due to meet representatives from the Ministry of Sport and Health and the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS) on Tuesday and Wednesday to go over the Ascension’s health safety measures.

Ferguson is prepared to postpone the competition, if necessary. But, once granted clearance, he said it will be full steam ahead for the top two divisions.

The zonal divisions are likely to face delays as they seek to convince authorities of their ability to secure community grounds, so as to stop congregation of supporters in contravention of public health guidelines. However, Ferguson is proud to include the zones, for the first time, and will make every effort to help them start their respective divisions.

The past and present Trinidad and Tobago Football Association (TTFA) administrations sought to have a tiered competition that included Pro League and Trinidad and Tobago Super League (TTSL) teams under a single umbrella. Ferguson noted that ‘Ascension has come along and achieved that first’.

Still, from the 24 teams that participated in 2019, only 12 returned this year.

San Juan Jabloteh, Morvant Caledonia United, Club Sando, FC Santa Rosa, QPCC, Prison Service, Guaya United, Matura ReUnited, Erin FC, Harlem Strikers, Club Sando Uprising Youths and Marabella FCC all declined invitations to return.

Edwards suggested that ‘financial difficulties’ was the main problem. Although clubs do not have to pay registration fees, transport costs were allegedly cited as an issue—particularly in the current lean economic climate.

Wired868 asked officials from Morvant Caledonia, Jabloteh and Club Sando for comment. Only Morvant Caledonia co-founder and technical director Jamaal Shabazz responded by the time of publication.

“We do not have the resources to play the Pro League and Ascension competitions and they will overlap,” said Shabazz. “So with the youngsters we have and the plan for the Pro League to start in September, it gives us more time to groom our youths.”

Shabazz hinted too that there might be lingering ill feelings, after they were booted out of the 2019 competition following an altercation with two match officials. The ‘Eastern Stallions’ were in second place at the time.

“We do not think we will be missed by anyone in the Ascension league,” said Shabazz. “Morvant Caledonia is not a favourite team—even among fellow clubs in the league.”

Defence Force, San Fernando Giants, Terminix La Horquetta Rangers, Cunupia FC, UTT FC, Deportivo PF, Police FC, Bethel United, Moruga FC, RSSR FC, Petit Valley Diego Martin United (PVDMU) and the Police FC Pro League and TTSL outfits have all returned to the Ascension Tournament, though.

They are joined by Pro League teams Central FC and AC Port of Spain, TTSL outfit Tobago 1976 FC Phoenix, zonal clubs Malabar FC, Valencia Lions FC, Central Soccer World and Miscellaneous Laventille United, and new Diego Martin-based outfit Real West Fort, which is led by former national coach Ron La Forest.

Phoenix and Bethel will play all their games in Trinidad, with their airfare funded by the league.

Edwards said the Valencia Lions were the last Eastern Counties (ECUTT) champions while Soccer World were Central Zone winners for the last two seasons and Miscellaneous Laventille were Northern FA champs in 2018 and the TTFA’s Champion of Champions winner in 2019.

The Ascension Tournament has 10 teams in each of the two top divisions in 2020, while the competition comprised of 24 teams last year.

Round One Fixtures

(Friday 14 August)

Central FC v San F’do Giants, Div 1, 6pm, Phase II, La Horquetta;

Defence Force v TLH Rangers, Div 1, 8pm, Phase II, La Horquetta;

(Saturday 15 August)

Tobago FC Phoenix v AC POS, Div 1, 5pm, D’go Martin Sporting Complex;

Real West Fort v Cunupia FC, Div 1, 7pm, D’go Martin Sporting Complex;

(Sunday 16 August)

Police FC v Deportivo PF, Div 1, 5pm, Hasely Crawford Stadium;

UTT FC v Police FC (S/L), Div 2, TBC;

Moruga FC v Misc Laventille, Div 2, TBC;

Malabar FC v RSSR FC, Div 2, TBC;

Bethel Utd v PVDM Utd, Div 2, TBC;

Valencia Lions v Central Soccer, Div 2, TBC.

Editor’s Note: The venue and kick off times for Division Two matches were not yet released by the Ascension Tournament.

[Bianconeri]

soooooooo

did they get approvals?
If so, what were the specifics?

What games gonna be televised if they get the go-ahead

and honest question here.....how does West Fort get into Div. 1 as a new entrant?