Joseph fires Club Sando past Cunupia

With both clubs al­ready as­sured of a semi­fi­nal spot, the bat­tle was on to avoid tour­na­ment favourites and Aber­crom­bie Group win­ner, Ter­minix La Hor­quet­ta Rangers in the semi­fi­nals.

Cunu­pia start­ed bright­ly with Kevon "Show­time" Wood­ley open­ing the scor­ing in the 31st minute, but that lead on­ly last­ed un­til the 38th minute when Joseph got his first of the night to get Club San­do lev­el go­ing in­to the half-time in­ter­val.

Nine min­utes in­to the sec­ond-half Tekay Hoyce put Club San­do ahead for the first time on the night from the penal­ty spot, while Joseph then fired in a quick dou­ble in the 60th, and 67th min­utes to com­plete his tre­ble and give his team a com­mand­ing 4-1 ad­van­tage.

With 15 min­utes left to play, Keron Corn­wall all but sealed the vic­to­ry for Club at 5-1, on­ly for Xavier Ra­j­paul (85th), and Wood­ley (87th), the lat­ter with his sec­ond on the night to get Cunu­pia FC with­in two goals.

But in the end it proved too lit­tle to late as Club San­do held on for the fi­nal whis­tle to end the six-team round-robin group stage with 11 points from five match­es, and will face Aber­crom­bie Group run­ner-up Po­lice FC in the semi­fi­nal, while Cunu­pia FC who end­ed sec­ond in the group will meet Rangers' in the oth­er semi­fi­nal.

All four clubs mak­ing it to this year's semi­fi­nals have nev­er lift­ed the ti­tle, much less even made the fi­nal-four be­fore this sea­son.

Results

De­fence Force 2 (Hashim Ar­cia 37th, De­vorn Jorsling 41st) vs Pt Fortin Civic 0

Club San­do 5 (Shaq­keem Joseph 38th, 60th, 67th, Tekay Hoyce 54th pen, Keron Corn­wall 75th) vs Cunu­pia FC 3 (Kevon Wood­ley 31st, 87th, Xavier Ra­j­paul 85th)

On Sat­ur­day

Mor­vant Cale­do­nia Unit­ed 1 (Shel­don Hold­er 69th) vs San Juan Jabloteh 0

L.H Rangers 5 (Kadeem Corbin 21st, 84th, Anslem Jack­son 31st, Ja­mal Creighton 87th) vs Cen­tral FC 2 (Shack­iel Hen­ry 8th, Che Ben­ny 90+3)

On Fri­day

AC Port-of-Spain 2 (Ko­rdell Samuel 40th, Ri­val­do Cory­at 82nd) vs 1976 FC To­ba­go Phoenix 1 (Levi Trim 4th)

Po­lice FC 1 (Chris­t­ian Thomas 39th) vs W Con­nec­tion FC 0

Fi­nal Group Stand­ings

Aber­crom­bie

Teams*P*W*D*L*F*A*Pts
La Hor­quet­ta Rangers*5*5*0*16*5*15
Po­lice FC*5*3*1*1*9*3*10
Cen­tral FC*5*2*1*2*8*8*7
De­fence Force*5*2*1*2*6*7*7
W Con­nec­tion*5*1*1*3*6*7*4
Pt Fortin Civic*5*0*0*5*2*17*0

Im­mortelle

Teams*P*W*D*L*F*A*Pts
Club San­do*5*3*2*0*13*8*11
Cunu­pia FC*5*2*2*1*9*7*8
AC Port-of-Spain*5*1*4*0*7*6*7
San Juan Jabloteh*5*1*2*2*9*8*5
Mor­vant Cale­do­nia*5*1*2*2*7*9*5
1976 To­ba­go Phoenix*5*0*2*3*3*10*2

Fri­day's Match­es (Diego Mar­tin Sport­ing Com­plex)

Po­lice FC vs Tiger Tank Club San­do, 6 pm

Cunu­pia FC vs Ter­minix La Hor­quet­ta Rangers, 8 pm

RELATED NEWS

Club Sando rout Cunupia FC 5-3.
By Sherdon Pierre (Newsday).

TIGER Tanks Club Sando whipped Cunupia FC 5-3 in a showdown that yielded six second half goals and an impressive hat-trick from Shaqkeem Joseph, on Monday evening, at the First Citizens Cup match held at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Mucurapo. The semi-final matchups were also decided as Club Sando will now face Police FC in the semi-final on Friday while, Cunupia FC will do battle against Terminix La Horquetta Rangers on the same night.

The game started in blistering pace with both teams vying for the top spot in the Immortelle Group. However, the tempo of the match was dented when referee Nickolai Nyron red carded Cunupia’s Kadeem Graham and Club Sando’s Darnell Hospedales in the18th minute for an off the ball incident.

Nevertheless, it was the team based in Central that opened the scoring in the 32nd minute through Kevon “Showtime” Woodley’s superb right-footed strike from on top the box beating a helpless goalkeeper Alexel Julien.

Seven minutes later, Club Sando were level through the unquestionable man of the match and speedy striker Shaqkeem Joseph who skipped passed Cunupia’s Dwane James and squeezed it through goalie Keston Malchan from an acute angle. Moments later, Joseph should have given his team the lead but his shot was inches wide of the far-post.

Nine minutes after the resumption, Club Sando were awarded a penalty after a tricky run from Tigana Sparks while team-mate Tekay Hoyce stepped up and slotted it to the left of the keeper Malchan for a 2-1 lead. The go-ahead goal boosted Club Sando’s confidence as they began controlling possession and dominating the game. They were rewarded for their efforts on the hour mark when Joseph gathered the ball from 40 yards out and rounded two defenders before slipping it home for the 3-1 lead. The lanky striker completed his well-deserved hat-trick in the 67th minute when he switched gears on his defender to calmly finish for the 4-1 score-line.

Substitute Keron Cornwall’s initial shot came off the post but Anthony Charles was in a perfect position for the rebound as he gathered and chipped a pass to Cornwall, who scored an open header in the 75th minute – his team’s fifth and last goal of the evening. After that goal, Club Sando seemed to have shut down much to the disgust of their coach Angus Eve as Cunupia’s Kaleb Douglas scored in the 85th and “Showtime” bagged his double two minutes later from a freekick.

In the earlier match between Defence Force and Point Fortin Civic FC wast in essence a stalemate as both teams were out of contention to qualify for the semi-final round.

For the majority of the encounter it was Defence Force controlling the ball in the first half but had nothing to show. However, in the 37th minute Army’s Hashim Arcia slipped a ball into Devorn Jorsling and he flicked it first time to Jerwyn Balthazar who then fired in a powerful, low cross that Arcia connected with his left boot, beating goalkeeper Stephon Seepersad.

Three minutes later, veteran striker and TT Pro League leading goal-scorer, Jorsling doubled the lead after volleying home a smart and accurate cross from Darius Ollivierra on the left flank. The two-nil cushion stood until half-time. In the second period, Point Fortin improved their showing especially after former youth national player Tyrell Emmanuel came on in the 55th minute.

However, Army erased any doubt in the 66th minute when winger Jelani Felix dribbled passed his defender and served up a right-footed cross that Arcia slapped unto the crossbar and rolled in for the three-goal lead. The south team, Point Fortin squandered several opportunities in the dying minutes to get on the scoresheet but the “Teteron Boys” stood their grounds to seal the consolation victory.