The often maligned Peter Prosper came good for Cl Financial San Juan Jabloteh as his brace gave the San Juan Kings a 2-0 win over Caledonia AIA in their Lucozade Sport Big Six match at the Manny Ramjohn Stadium, Marabella.
The match got its first shot after only a few seconds but Jason Marcano’s attempt from 35 yards out did not give Jabloteh the early lead.
Instead what it did was sharpen the Caledonia midfield and they were also unlucky not to go ahead after showing great cohesiveness in its attacking approach with a series of deft touches taking them through Jabloteh’s midfield easily before Michael Brown cut out the final ball to Kendall Jagdeosingh just on the edge of his area in the fifth minute.
The match was always going to be won by the team that controlled the midfield proceedings and, mindful of this, both outfits displayed their short passing game and went into their tackles whole-heartedly early on.
Caledonia’s Denzill Theobald and Jabloteh’s Aurtis Whitley marshalling things in their respective camps.
Sixteen minutes in Jabloteh’s Peter Prosper had a crack after the ball fell favourably for him following a scramble atop the area, but it was never going to trouble Jhonny Ortiz Cardona in goal for Caledonia.
In the 18th Caledonia’s Marcus Ambrose saw his shot well parried into touch despite the fact it almost caught Jabloteh custodian Durance Williams off guard.
Theobald missed a golden opportunity in the 20th minute after Kareem Joseph’s chip found him unmarked with only Williams to beat but his cutback was well anticipated by Brown and the ball went for a corner.
Caledonia had more of the ball possession but up to midway into the half was not able to capitalize, despite the efforts of Theobald, Jagdeosingh, Kareem Joseph, Abdallah Phillips and company.
Frustration began to set in and in the 32nd Whitley and Conrad Smith got into it after the Jabloteh midfield general thought that Smith tackled him too hard on the left-wing, the pair as well as Theobald received yellow cards for their role in the fracas.
With Jabloteh digging in to take more control of things the nature of the match became very physical with the referee having to dip into his pocket frequently.
In the 40th minute Prosper was set free by a through ball only to hit his shot directly at Ortiz Cardona and Marcano’s follow-up header was also snapped up by the ‘keeper.
Marcano showed great skill in the 42nd as he controlled the ball under pressure from Theobald and Joseph proceeded to ‘cap’ Theobald twice before he was unceremoniously taken down.
A minute later Smith slipped the ball to Theobald but the resulting shot from 20 yards out, though low and on target was straight at Ortiz Cardona.
On the restart Theobald had a gem of a chance after Williams cleared a ball onto his feet but with the goal wide open he scuffed his shot.
Caledonia would be made to rue this missed opportunity a minute later.
Prosper almost immediately improved on his first-half performance when he put away a sitter after Marcano worked his way past Ambrose, kept his balance got the ball under the advancing Ortiz Cardona and squared the ball across the goal-mouth Prosper did the rest—Jabloteh in front 1-0
In the 50th Kerry Baptiste blasted over from Marcano’s cross and put the ball over again from a 56th minute right side free-kick as Jabloteh now set about looking for an insurance strike.
Prosper got it in the 78th after beating the offside trap on a Baptiste free-kick on the left side, the ‘keeper was tempted to come, but could not reach in time and the striker headed the ball into an open net as if he’d been practicing all day.
In the 82nd Prosper chested, substitute Lester Peltier’s cross down to Baptiste but SterlIng Arjoon was on hand to put in a well-timed tackle.
The goal seemed to take the wind out of Caledonia’s sails and they had a hard time launching an attack from then on as Jabloteh locked up shop.
Theobald continued to have a torrid time inspiring his team and was again thwarted in the 85th by some sharp Jabloteh defending.
In all there were eight cautions handed out to Caledonia’s Arjoon (10th), Smith (31st), Theobald (31st), Jagdeosingh (75th) and substitute Hayden Tinto (77th) and Jabloteh’s Whittley (31st), Gray (75th), and Ronald Primus (68th).
However, the victory now puts Jabloteh firmly on top of the Big Six standings, and they have moved into 2nd place on the league table still 3 points behind leaders Joe Public.
Teams:
Caledonia AIA: Johnny Ortiz Cardona, Sterling Arjoon, Julio Cesar De La Rosa, Sheldon Emmanuel, Conrad Smith (Hayden Tinto 64th), Abdallah Phillips, Kareem Joseph (Jason Cudjoe 84th), Marcus Ambrose, Denzill Theobald, Kendall Jagdeosingh, Nigel Pierre (Stefan David 46th).
Coach: Jerry Moe
Jabloteh: Daurance Williams, Akiel Guevara, Kerry Baptiste (Michael Alexis 87th), Aurtis Whittley, Jason Marcano, Ian Gray, Keston Pierre (Karlon Murray 89th), Peter Prosper, Anthony Wolfe (Lester Peltier 64th), Ronald Primus, Michael Brown
Goal scorer—Peter Prosper (48’) (78’)
Coach: Terry Fenwick