LEADERS Central Football Club laboured before grinding out a deserved 2-0 win over Courts Morvant Caledonia United in the Digicel Pro League on Tuesday night at Ato Boldon Stadium, Couva.
With eight match days left in the Pro League season, which ends in February, “The Sharks”, Central FC, are still unbeaten and lead the Pro League with 32 points, maintaining a four-point lead over second-placed W Connection, which also kept pace with a 4-0 shutout of the bottom club Point Fortin Civic.
Following a goalless first half, Johan Peltier, a second half impact substitute, finally broke the deadlock in the 64th minute, when running onto a long punt down the middle, fighting off a challenge, before finally chipping over Morvant/Caledonia goalkeeper Stephon Seepersad. And from a free-kick, poor defending allowed Jason Marcano to poke a low shot to the goal and make it 2-0 with three minutes left.
For the first 45 minutes, Central FC had struggled to break down a solid bunker from Morvant-Caledonia United, the only team to beat the two-time Caribbean and Trinidad and Tobago champions this season, albeit on penalties, in a First Citizens Cup knockout match.
Central FC also struggled to create clear first-half chances. The “Sharks” captain Darrin Mitchell had one, when putting a close-up left footer an inch past the post from Marcano’s feed on the half-hour mark. And just eight minutes later, young striker Nicholas Dillion saw Cali goalie Seepersad well advanced, but a slight deflection diverted his shot wide of the target. And before the first half ended, both Marcano and Dillion then missed in quick succession, after a horrendous mistake which saw the Cali keeper drop a cross at Dillion’s feet.
Later, Police drew a match between two teams desperate for points, with a 1-1 tie against St Ann’s Rangers. Tall striker Jameel Perry put away the first of his three good first-half chances to break the deadlock in the 25th with a low shot down the middle, giving Police a 1-0 advantage.
However, Rangers did enough to at least gain a point, but only did so deep into injury time when, with the final kick of the match, Lester Durham put away a low shot after Police had missed several attempts to clear the ball.
Earlier, Dylon King might have had Rangers level in the 35th, had goalie Theon Browne not gotten a touch as the free attacker tried to go around him. Browne repeated the feat early in the second half when racing bravely out of his area to foil Rangers again. After applying severe second-half pressure, Rangers won a 65th-minute penalty when Police defender Anton Hutchinson handled the ball in the penalty area. But the effort was so poorly placed that goalkeeper Browne just had to swat the shot away.
DIGICEL PRO LEAGUE RESULTS:
(Tuesday)
W CONNECTION FC 4 (Daniel Diaz 18’, Shackiel Henry 20’ & 22’, Dimitri Apai 80’) v POINT FORTIN CIVIC FC 0
CENTRAL FC 2 Johan Peltier 64’, Jason Marcano 87’) v MORVANT/CALEDONIA UNITED 0
DEFENCE FORCE 2 (Devorn Jorsling (32 & 86’) v CLUB SANDO 0
MA PAU 1 (Jerrel Britto 35’) v SAN JUAN JABLOTEH 1 (Willis Plaza 55’)
POLICE FC 1 (Jameel Perry 25’) ST ANN’S RANGERS 1 (Lester Durham 90+)