Public face gruelling eight-week spell.
Bmobile Joe Public and CLICO San Juan Jabloteh will renew hostilities in roughly a week's time after the two top north-east T&T Pro League clubs booked a First Citizens Cup semi-final round meeting with victories in the round of eight on Friday night.
The other semi-final berth will be contested by St Ann's Rangers and W Connection who defeated Neal & Massy Caledonia AIA and Defence Force, respectively, on Friday.
On an evening filled with goals, Connection's fixture produced the most impressive score sheet with a 5-2 triumph over the Regiment. The "Savonetta Boys" led 4-1 at the half with a Hughtun Hector double and items from Jonathan Frias and Ronaldo Viana, which rendered Kurt Williams' goal-an equaliser at the time-a mere consolation.
Kevon Carter scored for Defence Force in the 57th minute, but national striker Andre Toussaint got the last word for Connection in the 89th minute.
Rangers' 4-3 penalty shoot-out triumph over Caledonia never lacked entertainment as the "Eastern Stallions" raced to a three goal lead within the opening half hour, but could not hold off Rangers once the St Ann's outfit got going at Malabar.
Kendall Velox and Hayden Tinto combined to create a simple opener for Walter Moore in the sixth minute and, 12 minutes later, Densill Theobald released Tinto whose cross was finished by Conrad Smith. Smith got his second and Caledonia's third in the 29th minute with a clever near post finish off a Velox pass, while only a superb goalline block from Elijah Belgrave prevented Velox from getting a goal himself.
Rangers coach Anthony Streete responded by moving Joseph Peters from defence to shore up their leaky midfield and his squad answered with items from Christon Thomas and Keon Edwards in the 37th and 41st minutes-both created by Grenadian international Shane Rennie.
Caledonia lost Smith to the flu at the break and then the advantage as Rennie won a penalty that captain Josimar Belgrave converted in the 53rd minute for a league-high 15th goal this season.
The winner never came in regulation time, though, and Rangers goalkeeper Shane Mattis emerged the hero with saves from Tinto and Kestore Jacob in the subsequent shoot-out.
The game was preceded by a more straightforward encounter as a typically industrious Jabloteh defeated Tobago courtesy captain Trent Noel's 14th minute penalty and Jerol Forbes' 87th minute finish.
Forbes has now scored three times in two games since his move from Petrotrin.
But it is hard to look past the exploits of Public's Guyanese star, Richardson, who recorded his second hat-trick this month and eight goals from his last four outings.
His assist to teammate Shane Calderon, on Friday, meant he also created two of Public's three goals in that period which did not come off his boot.
Romauld Aguillera and Kevon Woodley scored for Petrotrin, who were coached by Leon Carpette for the first time after the sacking of previous boss, Brian Williams.
Joe Public would be on the tongues of the Pro League board tomorrow as they try to come to grips with the CONCACAF Champions League fixtures.
Public, who are owned by CONCACAF president Jack Warner, are the sole Trinidad and Tobago representatives in the competition but got no favours from a harsh fixture list, which orders teams to play six games in just over seven weeks.
It poses a huge scheduling problem for the respective domestic leagues and the Pro League have already been hit by bad weather, a glut of international games, stadium unavailability and strike action by referees this season. Seventh-placed Public, who played three league games less than Rangers thus far, saw their backlog rise again as a scheduled home fixture against Ma Pau on Tuesday was postponed to facilitate their trip away to Montreal Impact on Wednesday, while there will be international demands too on Kerry Baptiste, Keyeno Thomas (both T&T) and Wolry Wolfe (Jamaica). It is enough to make Hercules wince.
The Pro League board must decide whether to also reschedule their First Citizens Cup semi-final clash against Jabloteh, which is scheduled for Friday. The next month will be an extraordinarily testing period for Public coach Keith Griffith and his troops.
The 2008 First Citizens Cup football action continued on Friday with quarter-final matches at the Larry Gomes Stadium at Malabar. And at the end of the day it was not only the footballers celebrating but four lucky spectators who each walked away with $1,000 cash won in the “Dash for Cash” promotion held at all matches. First Citizens continues to raise the bar for spectators at this tournament by not only having one “Dash for Cash” promotion per game but also the new MVS (Most Valuable Supporter) prize valued at $500 each for the last four matches of the tournament.