Defending Champions National Quarries North East Stars are not having things their way and will be now certainly feeling the pressure of being champions—they went down 0-1 to Caledonia AIA at the Larry Gomes Stadium.
A 77th minute strike by former W Connection striker Titus Elva brought tears to the champions eyes as he finished off a well worked move in the midfield involving Densill Theobald and Devon Modeste.
It was not one of North East Stars better games as they seem not to have found their touch just yet—they had to do without striker Jerren Nixon as he was only able to play for the first 30 minutes and then had to be substituted as the goal scoring ace was not feeling well.
The first period of play was not enterprising, by any means—little or no chances were created—but thankfully with the introduction of National Midfielder Densill Theobald for Fire in the 2nd half—and for North East,Kendall Velox made his own impact for the Sangre Grande Boys turned the game around.
Theobald worked well in combination with Modeste and Elva and began causing problems for the North East Stars defence—until they eventually got their just reward with the Titus Elva strike that gave the Firemen another three points—their second consecutive win, and the Caledonia based outfit now sit proudly in 2nd place on 7 points.
As for the champs they have some work to do, they have dropped to 5th on the standings on 4 points and they will need to get it right soon.
Caledonia AIA Fire Head Coach—Jamal Shabazz
“The first half was not good for us at all, we were very disorganized but they failed to capitalize.”
“We then re-organized and with the introduction of Densill Theobald, it made a huge difference and looking back we should have won the game by at least 4 goals”.
“However, its three more points in the bag, and that’s good for us, but we need to strive for more consistency– and if players like Kerwyn Jemmot, Stokely Mason and Titus Elva achieve a higher level of fitness, we can be a serious force this year.”
North East Stars Head Coach—James Mc Lean
“Our strikers seem to goal shy at the moment, they just have not been scoring goals—we are creating the opportunities and just not converting.”
“Yesterday however, Jerren Nixon and Kendall Velox wasn’t well and both were unable to play a full 90 minutes and that affected our performance—saying that, nevertheless, I thought a just result would have been a draw.”
“I am very disappointed in the start we have made to the season—the boys are under pressure and not handling it properly. We need to get it right soon.”