A SPLENDID double strike by second-half substitute Michael Edwards in the 60th and 67th minutes, three minutes after he was inserted, and telling first-half strikes from Kerry Joseph, who opened the scoring  in the 8th minute and Richard Roy in the 31st minute, fashioned a dominant win for Trinidad and Tobago’s Pro League champions Defence Force,  as they crushed hosts Milerock 4-0 when the two sides clashed in the first of a home-and-away tie of the second round play in the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) Club championship, at the Mackenzie Sports Club ground on Sunday night. Playing on  home soil, Milerock folded in the face of the military precision of their Army rivals, who broke down their defence time and again. This has now placed Milerock to seek a seemingly improbable margin victory if they have hopes of advancing at the expense of their Trinidad opponents.
In front of a supportive crowd which had built up nicely to shower support for the only club to have played at this stage of a CFU championship from the bauxite mining town, Milerock were soon under pressure when goalkeeper Dereck Carter fumbled to clear with a throw.
As the ball slipped from Carter’s grasp Defence Force striker Richard Roy was there to collect going down the right where Carter was able to get a second touch but as the central defenders were split and unable to recover, the Defence Force’s midfield player Kerry Joseph delivered a neat shot to goal which scored and silenced the partisan crowd the 8th minute of play for a 1-0 score.
But all was not lost, and had the few scoring chances registered by the home team, the eventual results may have been an entirely different one as Milerock tried ten minutes later, when Oswald Benjamin accepted a pass from playmaker Collie Hercules, but his drive was not on target.
Then in the 20th minute Rondell Elcock came on for Akile Edwards, as the Defence Force looked to pressure their opponents. In a sweeping move in the 31st minute Milerock defenders were drawn out wide and the goalkeeper was caught stranded.
This allowed the quick-thinking Trinidad forward Richard Roy from 35 metres out to uncork a rasping shot which went powerfully and zoomed in to score against a bewildered Milerock side, as the soldiers took a 2-0 lead.
As the first half was coming to an end Milerock did their best to keep in touch of their opponents but the margin of goals favoured the visitors in the end.
By this time Steve Brewley and Allister Johnson were trying to shoulder their team’s effort which seemingly had centred on the probing ‘Hitman’ Collie Hercules who was pushing himself to meet several cross hits but just did not connect to the intended target. Hercules was as expected shouldering Milerock’s thrust forward.
However, in the 50th minute Hercules fed Johnson a pass which resulted with the athletic Johnson unleashing a snap shot, but goalkeeper Kevin Graham in the Army team’s citadel was able to make a save.
In the 57th minute Michael Edwards was called to replace Owen Matthews. One minute later an aggressive-looking Hercules shot, as he motored through the centre, was barely parried involuntarily by Graham, but no one was there for the follow up.
But in contrast, showing no respite, the arsenal was in place and the march was on for the military boys: as they looked fitter and came forward to be rewarded with another goal. This time it was the first for dangerous Michael Edwards, as the left winger collected after good ball movement and dummied his way to score in the 60th minute for a 3-0 advantage.
There were some sparks left for the Milerock team and this was reflected when winger Steve ‘Parrot’ Brewley tried a shot which did not score.
But one minute later the fourth goal was scored in the 67th minute when Michael Edwards again was on the move. He was fed a back pass through ball from where he exploited a one-on-one situation with the goalkeeper Carter before netting the Defence Force’s fourth goal.
But Brewley was substituted in the 68th minute with Owen Williams for Milerock, and two other changes were effected with Randy Jerome coming in for Oswald Benjamin and Ryan Crandon for an injured Allister Johnson in the 73rd minute. Three minutes later Defence Force brought on Anton Joseph for Sean Norris.
As if the 4-0 deficit was not enough for the home side, Kayode McKinnon was unable to reduce the margin when he saw his penalty shot, awarded moments before the game ended, saved by a diving Graham to his left.
It therefore means that Defence Force will take on Milerock at home in Trinidad and Tobago with a 4-0 away cushion, which places tremendous pressure on the  Milerock team  if they are to overcome this uphill task of beating  the Defence Force on aggregate to reach the final four.