… Army halt Caledonia streak
ADAM’S Construction San Juan Jabloteh pulled away from the pack on Tuesday afternoon with a rescheduled Round One match, Day One League fixture, against home side Police Football Club at the Ato Boldon Stadium, with a 3-1 victory that took them to the top of the Digicel Pro League 2011-12 standing with 18 points. Caledonia AIA, also playing a rescheduled Round One match, Day One fixture at the Larry Gomes Stadium, saw their four-game win streak come to a halt against Defence Force who won by a 2-1 margin over the Jamaal Shabazz-coached side.
T&TEC remain second in the standing with two games in hand, Caledonia in third and W Connection in fourth with one game in hand, are all on 15 points but separated by goal differences.
St Ann’s Rangers in fifth with nine points are the closest to the pack, followed by DIRECTV North East Stars with eight points, Police FC with just four points from five games and Defence Force at the bottom, picking up their first three points after three matches.
On Tuesday, Vernell Ramirez had Police in front from as early as the 16th minute, before Jabloteh bounced back to strike three times before the break with midfielder Devon Jamerson levelling the scores in the 31st minute.
Striker Willis Plaza netted his sixth League goal in the 34th minute and defender Sheldon Bateau completed the victory in the 41st minute as the ‘lawmen’ suffered their second straight 3-1 defeat, after coming off a shocking 4-1 win over T&TEC before the Christmas break.
And at a 16:00hrs kickoff at the Malabar venue, Defence Force target man Richard Roy opened the scoring in the 24th minute after the Caledonia defence failed to properly dispose of Kerry Joseph’s cross from the right and Roy made no mistake from close up beating Jamaican goalie Kevin Graham.
Joseph was influential in his team’s second item of the afternoon when from his left-side corner Graham’s punch only guided the ball onto his teammate and after a bubble-up Keston Williams had the last touch guiding the ball over the line for a 2-0 cushion in the 61st minute.
Caledonia pulled a goal back in the 68th minute from the penalty spot with wingback Kareem Joseph completing the task from the spot, beating goalkeeper Kevin Graham who, ironically, carries the same name of his opposite number for the 2-1 score-line which lasted till the end.
It was in the 67th minute after a neat through-ball by Jamal Gay picked out former Defence Force ace Devorn Jorsling, who was upended by goalkeeper Graham after his first touch on the ball and referee Neil Brizan didn’t hesitate blowing his whistle and pointing to the spot.
In the 90th minute from a neat buildup starting at the back Walter Moore provided a decent cross to Jorsling, but the now former Orlando City player, saw his headed effort easily wrapped and seconds later on the opposite end Roy hammered wide from inside the area.
The action didn’t stop there, with Kareem Joseph hitting just wide of the Defence Force goal from a distance and Jorsling winning a free kick outside the area in injury time. However, Caledonia failed to pull back the important goal before the final whistle with Jorsling banging his effort into the wall and the rebound was smashed overbar by Ataulla Guerra.
In the end the result was some sort of relief for the soldiers following Saturday’s Round Two match, Day Four fixture against North East Stars which was quashed because of the lights failure at the very same Larry Gomes Stadium in the 58th minute, after holding a compelling 3-1 advantage with a double by Roy and an item by Carter.