"Our guys have a score to settle against Caledonia,” said T&TEC FC head coach Dexter Cyrus in anticipation of Friday’s Lucozade Sport Goal Shield second semi-final clash against Caledonia AIA from 8pm at the Mannie Ramjohn Stadium.
And in the first semi-final clash at the Marabella venue, Defence Force will take on St. Ann’s Rangers from 6pm.
T&TEC are coming off a hard-fought 4-3 penalty win over DIRECTV North East Stars following a 1-1 draw in the quarter-final round last week, while Caledonia edged Police FC 1-0 to book its spot in the quarter-final round.
Caledonia, in chase of its third piece of silverware this season after coping the First Citizens Cup (defeating T&TEC in the Final) and the FA Trophy (defeating W Connection in the Final), were also major deciding factor in T&TEC’s second position finish in the Digicel Pro League Championship.
T&TEC(39 points) fell to a 2-3 defeat against Caledonia in its final League match three weeks ago after needing just a point to lift the title. The slip in the end by T&TEC saw Connection defeat Police 8-1 to lift the League title with 40 points.
“I like these types of matches,” continued Cyrus, looking ahead at Friday’s match.
“If we were fresh (against Caledonia) we would have won the League. We now have sufficient time to prepare for them,” added the T&TEC coach who maintained that the League fixtures which saw his side play two matches in three days was to blame for his side failure to lift the title.
“We are really looking forward to Friday’s game (against Caledonia). We have been very consistent this season. We were actually the most consistent team finishing second in the League, First Citizens Cup and Toyota Classic. We are in a position now to win on Friday and reach another Final and go on to actually win silverware,” he said.
The T&TEC coach went on to explain that while Caledonia has a very attack, the Morvant/Laventille side’s defense is very exploitable.
Commenting on his team’s 4-3 penalty win over North East Stars, Cyrus said it didn’t matter how the much needed victory came.
“Another loss (coming off our final League match defeat against Caledonia) would have really hurt the players and the club. Just the mere fact that we bounced back was more important than anything.
The players were down a bit and we had to shake off that rust. Now that we have gotten it out of the way, we are actually in a better position to win on Friday and I am very confident that we can get the win.
North East played a good game. I thought they have a really calm football about them coming from the back with (Charles) Pollard and (Seon) Power partnering eachother in defense. But they weren’t really a problem against our goal although equalizing. It’s just that we have the problem of muffing at early chances,” he ended.
Lucozade Sport Goal Shield
Semi-Final Round
Friday 20 April 2012
Mannie Ramjohn Stadium
Defence Force vs St. Ann’s Rangers—6pm
T&TEC FC vs Caledonia AIA—8pm