NEW YORK CITY, New York (CMC) – Trinidad & Tobago Pro League club Joe Public slinked-out of contention in the CONCACAF Champions League on Wednesday, but the Puerto Rico Islanders fortified their hopes of reaching the next stage.
Joe Public were crushed, when Santos of Mexico trampled them 5-1 in a Group-B match at the Corona Stadium, and a pair of goals from David Horst lifted the Puerto Rico Islanders to a come-from-behind 3-2 victory over Toluca of Mexico at Juan Ramón Loubriel Stadium.
In Torreon, Mexico, another abysmal performance from Joe Public left them nursing their egos, after the victory improved Santos to 10 points in five games.
The defeat left Joe Public on one point and with no chance of advancing to the quarter-finals of the region’s leading club competition.
The encounter appeared to be a mismatch as early as the third minute, when Rodolfo Reyes gave the home side the lead, after he traded passes with Jose Cardenas and beat Joe Public goalkeeper Glenroy Samuel from eight metres.
Francisco Torres doubled the lead 10 minutes later, when Cardenas found him with a deep cross, and the midfielder settled the ball before putting it inside the far post from the right edge of the six-yard box.
Kerry Baptiste redressed the balance of power, when he cut the deficit in the 32nd minute, after he butted Hayden Tinto’s cross in off the crossbar.
But Santos ran amok in the second half, after they had carried a 2-1 lead into the halftime break.
Carlos Quintero eroded any plans of a fightback from Joe Public, when he headed fellow substitute Christian Benitez’s cross into the far post from just inside the six-yard box on the hour mark.
Cardenas found the back of the net eight minutes later, when he finished a run into the box with a low, rasping shot inside the far post from eight metres away.
Rafael Figueroa completed the rout in the 78th minute, with a 35-metre strike that gave Samuel no chance of saving.
Joe Public also suffered the indignity of being reduced to 10 men in the final minute, when American referee Mark Geiger sent off Carlyle Mitchell with a straight red card for a late sliding tackle on Benitez.
In Bayamon, Puerto Rico, David Horst scored in stoppage time to complete a brace, and hand the Islanders a remarkable victory.
The Islanders seemed destined for defeat, when Hector Mancilla scored twice in the space of 15 minutes in the first half to give Toluca a 2-0 lead at halftime.
Mancilla struck in the 10th minute, when he ran onto a rolling ball from Antonio Naelson, and whipped a crisp stroke past Islanders net-minder Bill Gaudette.
Mancilla then took advantage of some confusion in the area following a corner kick, and scored his second.
The Islanders emerged for the second period with greater purpose, and stung Toluca in the 53rd minute, when former Hartleplool striker David Foley fired-in from a through ball orchestrated from one of several plays by inspirational right wing back Richard Martinez.
Horst then turned Josh Hansen’s corner kick into the goal in the 70th minute to draw the Islanders level.
The two sides scrambled over the last 20 minutes of the match before the home team won a corner 21 seconds into injury time.
Horst rose to meet another curling ball from Hansen – this time from the left – to set back Toluca and push the Islanders temporarily to the top of the group standings with eight points – pending yesterday’s schedule of matches.