Morvant Caledonia blanks Rangers 2-zip

The teams went in­to the en­counter lev­el on 10 points, with a chance to se­cure the run­ner-up po­si­tion, but at the end of the first 45 min­utes, the teams were locked at 0-0 as their de­fend­ers stood firm in the face of at­tacks from their op­po­nents. How­ev­er, with six min­utes left in the con­test, Alexan­der put Cale­do­nia ahead, be­fore Mac Far­lane added the in­sur­ance item in the 92nd minute to push the club to 13 points in­to sec­ond, but from two match­es more than lead­ers De­fence Force (14 points) who had no match sched­ule, while Rangers slipped to fifth.

The win was the first for Mor­vant Cale­do­nia team since their 1-0 win over San Juan Jabloteh on Jan­u­ary 3, and will no doubt serve as a con­fi­dence boost­er for first-time coach and for­mer na­tion­al cap­tain Den­sill "Bleed­er" Theobald whose next as­sign­ment is a top-of-the clash with the "Teteron Men" (Defence Force) on Sat­ur­day at Ato Boldon Sta­di­um, Cou­va.

Ear­li­er, at Mu­cu­rapo, in the open­ing match, San Juan Jabloteh found their scor­ing touch in a 5-2 come-from-be­hind thump­ing of AC Port-of-Spain.

For­mer na­tion­al Un­der-20 cap­tain Jean-Luc Rochford pushed AC Port-of-Spain ahead as ear­ly as the fourth minute, but the na­tion­al youth team duo of Justin Arau­jo-Wil­son and Mic­ah Lan­siquot hit back with strikes in the 14th and 15th min­utes re­spec­tive­ly to put Jabloteh ahead 2-1.

AC Port-of-Spain then added to their woes when La Shawn Roberts turned the ball in­to his net and his team was trail­ing 3-1 at the half-time in­ter­val.

Eight min­utes in­to the sec­ond-half, Jabloteh put the re­sult be­yond doubt, thanks to Re­nal­do Fran­cois. How­ev­er, AC Port-of-Spain had oth­er ideas and got a sec­ond goal back through Sedale Mc Lean to keep the match alive.

But their faint hopes of mount­ing a come­back quick­ly fad­ed when Shakiyl Phillip net­ted a fifth item for Jabloteh, a penal­ty, five min­utes from the fi­nal whis­tle to hand coach Kei­th Jef­freys his sec­ond win of the sea­son from sev­en match­es.

At the Ato Boldon Sta­di­um in Cou­va, de­fend­ing cham­pi­ons W Con­nec­tion con­tin­ued their march up the ta­ble with a 2-0 win over cel­lar-placed Cunu­pia FC with goals from Kurt Fred­er­ick in the 18th minute, and Isa­iah Hud­son, in the 61st minute.

In the oth­er match, Point Fortin Civic cel­e­brat­ed play­ing their first match at their Ma­haica Oval, Point Fortin home this sea­son with a come-from-be­hind 2-1 vic­to­ry over for­mer three-time cham­pi­ons Cen­tral FC.

Nip­py striker Che Ben­ny si­lenced the Point Fortin crowd when he put the vis­i­tors ahead in the 17th minute, but with­in four min­utes Kervile Je­re­mi­ah drew Civic lev­el be­fore Shakuile Williams net­ted the game-win­ner in the 35th minute.

RELATED NEWS

Caledonia, Jabloteh win to climb Pro League table.
By Sherdon Pierre (Newsday).

MORVANT/CALEDONIA United climbed to second on the standings, of the TT Pro League, after scoring two late second-half goals to defeat Terminix La Horquetta Rangers 2-0, on Tuesday, at the Hasley Crawford Stadium.

Unfortunately, there wasn't much action in the first 45 minutes of the encounter. During that time, Rangers were reduced to 10 men after Isaiah Lee was sent marching midway through the first period for dissent.

In the second half, Rangers skipper Jamal Creighton threw away the best chance of the game for his team in the 55th minute. The play started with substitute Keron Cummins who slipped a pass to their best player on the night Aikim Andrews but his shot was saved by Caledonia's goalkeeper Katibi Kolapo. Creighton then shot on the rebound but it went over bar.

Moments later, Caledonia left back, Richard Williams was on the end of a series of slick passing from his team but his shot went inches wide. But, Caledonia’s Joshua Alexander scored with five minutes to go in the game deflating the hopes of Rangers. Then, substitute Jevick McFarlane sealed the two-nil victory in injury time.

San Juan Jabloteh scored a handful of goals past Athletic Club Port of Spain to win 5-2 at the same venue. AC's Jean-Luc Rochford scored the early goal from a well-taken free kick on top the box in the fourth minute. Jabloteh replied in virtually their first attack of the game as teenager Justin Araujo Wilson scored from an acute angle, shooting it between the diving goalkeeper Javon Sample in the 14th minute. A minute later, Jabloteh took the 2-1 lead when Wilson turned provider as he slipped a ball across the goal for an easy tap in goal for Micah Lansiquot.

Jabloteh extended their lead further in the 39th when Brandon Semper shot was deflected of AC's defender La Shawn Roberts for the own goal to end the first half with a 3-1 advantage.

In minute 55, Shakiyl Phillip sped down the flank on the counter attack and his accurate pass was trapped by Renaldo Francois on his right foot. Francois buried a shot with his left foot for the 4-1 lead.

The Port of Spain club pulled a goal back twenty minutes before time through a Sedale Mclean shot that came off the inside of the post and sneaked in to cut the lead to 4-2. Jabloteh restored their three-goal cushion when Jair Edwards' weaving run earned his team a penalty. Phillip, who was deserving of a goal, stepped up and sent goalie Sample the other way for the 5-2 lead. AC had a perfect chance to trim the lead but Jabloteh's goalie Christopher Bigette made a great save low to his left to deny Rashas Hyacenth a goal from the penalty spot. The 5-2 victory has propelled Jabloteh to eight points.

W Connection picked up their third victory in the campaign to move into third spot after a two-nil victory over nine-men Cunupia FC, at the Ato Boldon Stadium, Couva. Connection got goals from St. Lucian left back Kurt Fredericks in the 18th and Isaiah Hudson in the 61st minute.

(Teams- by Wired868)

San Juan Jabloteh (4-2-3-1): 30.Christopher Bigette (GK); 13.Keshawn Hutchinson, 20.Shakiyl Phillip, 12.Sévère Verilus, 16.Brandon Semper; 4.Nical Stephens (captain), 11.Micah Lansiquot; 23.Tyrese Bailey, 10.Renaldo Francois, 17.Nickell Orr (18.Jair Edwards 50); 25.Justin Araujo-Wilson (27.Jaheim Faustin 68).

Unused substitutes: 35.Jesse Peters (GK), 2.Kerdell Sween, 8.Dellon Jaggasar, 15.Kadeem Hutchinson, 22.Jercole Pierre.

Coach: Keith Jeffrey

AC Port of Spain (4-4-2): 26.Javon Sample (GK); 2.La Shawn Roberts, 4.Brendon Creed, 17.Kyle Sylvester, 24.Rakim Cabie; 13.Shem Clauzel (27.Dominic Douglas 46), 12.Jean-Luc Rochford, 28.Sowande Prieto (19.Rivaldo Coryat 46), 7.Sedale McLean; 9.Rashad Hyacenth, 18.Kordell Samuel.

Unused substitutes: 31.Kwame Farrell (GK), 3.Osei Charles, 11.Kyle Bartholomew, 14.Andel Noray, 22.Darian Parks.

Coach: Walt Noriega

Referee: Nikolai Nyron

Wired868 Man of the Match: Shakiyl Phillip (San Juan Jabloteh)

Yesterday's Results

(Tuesday 21 January)

San Juan Jabloteh 5 (Justin Araujo-Wilson 14, Micah Lansiquot 15, Renaldo Francois 53, Shakiyl Phillip 85-Pen, La Shawn Roberts 39 Own-Goal) v AC Port of Spain 2 (Jean-Luc Rochford 4, Sedale Mc Lean 71), 6pm, Hasely Crawford Stadium;

Morvant Caledonia United 2 (Joshua Alexander 84, Jevick MacFarlane 90+2) v La Horquetta Rangers 0, 8pm, Hasely Crawford Stadium;

Cunupia FC 0 v W Connection 2 (Kurt Frederick 18, Isaiah Hudson 61), 7pm, Ato Boldon Stadium;

Point Fortin Civic 2 (Kerville Jeremiah 22, Shakuile Williams 35) v Central FC 1 (Ché Benny 17), 7pm, Ma­haica Oval.

Latest Standings

Teams P W D L GF GA GD Points
1  Defence Force FC 6 4 2 0 8 4 4 14
2  Morvant Caledonia United 8 3 4 1 9 6 +3 13
3  W Connection 6 3 2 1 11 4 +7 11
4  Police FC 7 3 2 2 9 6 +3 11
5  Terminix La Horquetta Rangers 7 3 1 3 18 11 +7 10
6  Point Fortin Civic 6 2 3 1 8 6 +2 9
7  Central FC 8 2 3 3 8 9 -1 9
8  San Juan Jabloteh 7 2 2 3 7 11 -4 8
9  AC Port of Spain 7 2 1 4 9 20 -11 7
10  Tiger Tanks Club Sando 7 1 3 3 5 9 -4 6
11  Cunupia FC 7 0 3 4 4 10 -6 3

Top Scor­ers:

6 - Keion Wil­son (Po­lice FC);

5 - Kervile Je­re­mi­ah (Pt Fortin Civic);

4 - Keron Cum­mings (La Hor­quet­ta Rangers), Rashad Hy­a­centh (AC PoS);

3 - Shaq­keem Joseph (Club San­do), Sean Bon­val (Cen­tral FC), Aaron Richards (Mor­vant Cale­do­nia), Ja­mal Creighton (La Hor­quet­ta Rangers).

Upcoming Fixtures

(Wednesday 22 January)

Club Sando v Defence Force, 7pm, Ato Boldon Stadium.

Police FC - Bye

(Friday 24 January)

W Connection v San Juan Jabloteh, 6pm, Ato Boldon Stadium;

Police FC v AC Port of Spain, 6pm, Hasely Crawford Stadium;

Point Fortin Civic v Cunupia FC, 7pm, Machica Oval;

(Saturday 25 January)

Central FC v La Horquetta Rangers, 3:30pm, Larry Gomes Stadium;

Defence Force v Morvant Caledonia United, 4pm, Ato Boldon Stadium.

Club Sando - Bye