North East Stars is likely to start without striker Cornell Glen in Saturday’s Digicel Pro League Round One Match Day Three match against Police FC from 4pm at the Larry Gomes Stadium.
Glen, 32, provided three assists in last Saturday’s 3-3 draw against Defence Force and was denied a goal by a late clearance off the line by defender Devin Jordan, but was replaced 15 minutes from time because of a groin injury according to Head Coach Angus Eve.
Stars also suffered another casualty in the Round One Match Day Two clash at the Hasely Crawford Stadium with defensive midfielder Devon Jamerson, a second half substitute, suffering a cut to his face and eventually being substituted.
“We could be without striker Cornell Glen for Saturday’s match against Police,” said Eve on Tuesday. “It’s his groin. And he is very doubtful at this time.”
Meantime Jamerson is likely to be out for two weeks.
“Jamerson received twelve stitches near his mouth and he could be out for two weeks,” explained the North East Stars coach.
“It’s a tender area and he is a defensive midfielder. So it was recommended that he don’t play because he can’t go up for headers.
It’s unfortunate that the referee didn’t see it, but he was struck in the face. It is also bad because he is now getting to the level of fitness that we want and fitting into the team,” ended Eve.
North East Stars currently leads the League standings by goal difference, followed by Defence Force tied with 4 points from two matches. Police FC, Central FC and T&TEC FC all follow with 2 points and defending champions W Connection and Caledonia AIA in the bottom half with a point each. St. Ann’s Rangers sit at the bottom without a point.
Meanwhile, North East Stars Head Coach Angus Eve blamed indecisive defending which allowed a three goal advantage slip in Saturday’s 3-3 draw against Defence Force at the Hasely Crawford Stadium.
He promised to work on the defensive cracks ahead of Saturday’s Round One Match Day Three Digicel Pro League fixture against Police FC from 4pm at the Larry Gomes Stadium.
“It was really unfortunate,” said the Stars coach. “I thought a bit of discipline faded.”
North East Stars led the match with goals from Micah Lewis (10th minute), Seon Power (52ndminute) and Kerry Baptiste (55th minute) but allowed a hat-trick by Defence Force’s Josimar Belgrave (63rd, 70th and 87th minutes) to only manage a point from the Round One Match Day Two fixture.
Eve added, “Since our defenders (Power and Kareem Moses) came back from representing Trinidad and Tobago during the national break, they didn’t reintegrate to how we play defensively. It caused a bit of indecisiveness and a lack of cohesion. And defensively we weren’t resolute.
“In saying that, we had a lot of chances and should have won the game. But when we lost (Cornell) Glen [in the 75th minute] to a groin injury, we didn’t keep army on their backs. We lost our focal point up front because we didn’t have that point man we had with Glen.”
Eve also shared, “We give Defence Force credit. They played really well.”
Looking ahead, the North East Stars Head Coach said, “So far we had a good start. We are having an average of three goals in the League, but we need to get better defensively. We have conceded an average of two goals in the League. We are going to try different ways to solidify things defensively this week and prepare for our game on Saturday.”
North East Stars leads the standings with 4 points, from two games. The Sangre Grande club defeated Caledonia AIA 3-1 in Match Day One.
Friday 26 October 2012
Hasely Crawford Stadium
St. Ann’s Rangers vs W Connection—7pm
Caledonia AIA vs Defence Force—9pm
Saturday 27 October 2012
Larry Gomes Stadium
Central FC vs T&TEC FC—2pm
North East Stars vs Police FC—4pm