This year’s Digicel T&T Pro League title looks set to go down to the final match on March 30 with three-winners’ W Connection, league debutants T&TEC and Neal & Massy Caledonia AIA all lock in a keen battle.
On Tuesday night, in one of two re-scheduled matches, W Connection which last lifted the title in 2005 stayed in the hunt to dethrone Defence Force and end its six-year drought with a hard fought 1-0 win over Police at the Mannie Ramjohn Stadium, Marabella.
Playing its third match in fives and without the services of national Under-23 quartet (Shahdon Winchester, Joevin Jones, Jomal Williams and Leslie Joel Russell) away on national Under-23 duty in the USA at the Concacaf Olympic qualifiers, W Connection were expected to be a tired bunch against Police, which last played in 0-0 draw with Defence Force on Friday.
Early on it was evident as the ”Savonetta Boys” struggled to break down the stubborn defence of the Police line-up which included the very experienced Trent Noel, Errol Mc Farlane Jr, Kareem Young, Todd Ryan, Noel Williams, Errol Charles and Weslie John.
However, after a 0-0 first 45 minutes, Britto got what turned out to be the match winner when he ran onto a through ball and with the Police players standing around appealing for off-side he calmly slotted into an open net past goalkeeper Adisa Alleyne for 1-0 68th minute lead which it held on to until the final whistle.
The win for W Connection while avenging a 2-1 round one loss to the lawmen saw the Stuart Charles-Fevrier coached club regain top spot on the table with 36 points from 19 matches, one ahead of T&TEC which has a match in hand against Police, to be played on Tuesday. But before T&TEC face the Lawmen, they will do battle with W Connection in a top-of-the-table tomorrow (Friday) at Marabella from 8pm.
In its other matches, W Connection will also meet Police in its final match on March 30 while T&TEC also has a last day encounter with Caledonia, which is third on the table with 32 points and still with a chance of securing its first ever league crown. Butin order to stay in the hunt, Caledonia will need to beat Adam’s Construction Limited San Juan Jabloteh tomorrow and T&TEC in its final match while hoping other results go in its favour.
Speaking after the win, W Connection owner, David John-Williams said his team his team now had its destiny in its own hands. “We have two matches to play against T&TEC and Police and once we take all six points we will have an unassailable total of 42 points. Despite its one point lead John-Williams was mindful that with only two rounds to play it was still an open race between three teams still in the race for top hours.
“These are exciting times for the league as T&TEC will also feel they can win the title as well as Caledonia while Police could also play spoilers as they have matches against two of the top three still to play. In Tuesday’s other match, Marvin Oliver netted a 60th minute winner for Jabloteh to seal a come-from-behind 2-1 win over Defence Force at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Mucurapo.
Richard “Shaka” Roy” had given the “Teteron Boys” a 33rd minute lead with his league-leading 14th goal of the season but Willis Plaza, drew Jabloteh level with his 11th of the campaign, ten minutes later before Oliver struck as Jabloteh climbed above its opponents into fourth spot with 27 points.
Current Standings:
Teams P W D L F A Pts
W Connection 19 12 0 7 23 18 36
T&TEC 18 10 5 3 27 14 35
Caledonia 19 10 2 7 29 25 32
Jabloteh 19 7 6 6 28 25 27
Defence Force 19 7 5 7 27 27 26
Police 18 4 6 8 26 32 18
NE Stars 19 4 5 10 18 25 17
Rangers 19 4 5 10 23 35 17
Tuesday’s Digicel T&T Pro League results:
Jabloteh 2 (Willis Plaza 43rd, Marvin Oliver 60th) vs Defence Force 1 (Richard Roy 33rd)
W Connection 1 (Rennie Britto 68th) vs Police 0