'Naps', San Juan keep pressure on Presentation

Lead­ers Pre­sen­ta­tion Col­lege, San Fer­nan­do turned back a bat­tling St An­tho­ny's Col­lege at the Man­nie Ramjohn Sta­di­um in Mara­bel­la 3-1 to main­tain its ad­van­tage for the ti­tle. De­spite field­ing an un­der-strength de­fen­sive back­line, the Pre­sen­ta­tion boys looked any­thing but ham­pered by the sus­pen­sion of in­stru­men­tal de­fend­er Justin Corn­wall yes­ter­day, with the team's at­tack­ers prov­ing to be too much for the 'Tiger' to con­quer.

Af­ter a goal­less first half, the South­ern­ers broke the ice when Jaiye Shep­perd got the open­er in the 66th minute. And 10 min­utes lat­er Jor­dan Ri­ley, the team's pro­lif­ic goal scor­er dou­bled the team's tal­ly with his item which brought a sigh of re­lief to the fans.

But de­spite St An­tho­ny's goal late in the half, Jardel St Clair drilled the nail in­to the St An­tho­ny's cof­fin with his goal on the stroke of reg­u­la­tion time.

The win pushed them to 32 points, still a point ahead of ri­vals Na­pari­ma Col­lege which tri­umphed 1-0 at the ex­pense of Queen's Roy­al Col­lege (QRC) at the team's home ground on Lewis Street, San Fer­nan­do.

With 31 points, Na­pari­ma, be­ing coached by An­gus Eve, will have to win its next match against Trin­i­ty Mo­ka on Wednes­day in Mar­aval and hope that de­fend­ing cham­pi­on school Pre­sen­ta­tion San Juan which can to­tal no more than 32 points. Na­pari­ma coach Eve said they can on­ly do what they have to do which is to win their last match and wait and see the out­come of Pre­sen­ta­tion and San Juan clash.

The math­e­mat­ics though is that a win for Na­pari­ma would put them on 34 points, still in hope that third-place San Juan North, which edged St Bene­dict's 1-0 yes­ter­day from a soli­tary Re­nal­do Boyce strike, can hold off Pre­sen­ta­tion in its cru­cial en­counter at home on Wednes­day. For San Juan to have any chance of lift­ing the ti­tle, Na­pari­ma must drop points, while it need to score at least six clear goals.

(Teams)

Naparima College (4-2-3-1): 1.Levi Fernandez (GK) (captain); 5.Daquon Foster, 4.Tyrike Andrews, 12.Asukile Christopher, 8.Kodel Frontin; 17.Nathaniel Perouse, 6.Shoaib Khan (24.Jabari Lee); 19.Isa Bramble, 10.Decklan Marcelle (18.Caleb Gaspar 80), Ezekiel Kesar (13.Jeron Pantor 62); 20.Seon Shippley.

Unused Substitutes: 30.Enrique Changiah (GK), 11.Kern Cedeno, 14.Molik Khan, 15.Marvin Waldrop.

Coach: Angus Eve

QRC (4-4-1-1): 1.Jacques Poon-Lewis (GK); 12.Jabari McKell, 17.Donnell Claxton, 4.Anfernee Stokes, 6.Rawle Felix; 14.Miguel Cross (25.Jaheim Granderson 62), 20.Marc Robertson, 3.Darlon Guppy (9.Renaldo Mullings 79), 7.Darian Bradshaw (18.Nathaniel James); 8.Kalev Keil; 19.Darius Dickson.

Unused Substitutes: 30.Jumaane McNeil (GK), 5.Jakeem McNeil, 10.Naeem Bisnath, 16.Nathaniel Brown.

Coach: Kenwyne Jones

Referee: Cecile Hinds

RE­SULTS

Bish­op's 0 vs East Mu­cu­rapo 5 (Jelani Ferry [2], Shakime Wickham, Daniel David, Malachi Celestine)

Pres 3 (Jaiye Sheppard 65, Jordan Riley 78, Jadel Sinclair 90) vs St An­tho­ny's 1 (Kiron Manswell 85)

Cara­pichaima 1 (Luke Charles) vs Trin­i­ty East 0

San Juan 1 (Re­nal­do Boyce) vs St Bene­dict's 0

St Au­gus­tine 0 vs Va­len­cia 3

Trin­i­ty Mo­ka 1 vs St Mary's 5 (Kyle Carrington [3], Michel Poon-Angeron, Tyrese Spicer)

Lat­est Pre­mier­ship Di­vi­sion Stand­ing

TEAMS*P*W*D*L*GF*GA*GD*PTS
1*Pres*13*10*2*1*29*11*18*32
2*Naps*13*9*4*0*25*9*16*31
3*San Juan*13*9*2*2*24*14*10*29
4*Cara­pichaima*13*7*2*4*24*21*3*23
5*St Bene­dict's*14*6*3*5*22*21*1*21
6*QRC*13*5*4*4*18*11*7*19
7*Trin­i­ty Mo­ka*13*5*4*4*21*29*-8*19
8*St Au­gus­tine*13*5*2*6*25*24*1*17
9*East Mu­cu­rapo*13*5*2*6*22*21*1*17
10*Trin­i­ty East*13*3*7*3*13*11*2*16
11*St An­tho­ny's*13*4*3*6*22*23*-1*15
12*Va­len­cia*13*3*3*7*19*28*-9*12
13*St Mary's*12*3*2*7*19*21*-2*11
14*Fa­ti­ma*13*2*2*9*11*21*-10*8
15*Bish­op's To­ba­go*14*0*2*12*12*41*-29*2