North East Stars are no longer the pushovers who lost the first 20 matches they played in the Pro League last season.
They proved that yesterday when matching the Defence Force in all departments, until the 84th minute when a well-placed header from striker Russell Pope secured all three points for the Army-Navy combination at the Hasely Crawford Stadium.
The Round Five victory gave the Defence Force a second success this season as they continued an upward move off the bottom of the 2003 Trinidad and Tobago Pro League.
A year ago, only a committed few would have left Sangre Grande to accompany the country boys to the big city for their outings against one of the major Port of Spain teams.
But things have changed. Traditional powers Defence Force are struggling while Stars are having a better run after a hard first season at the top level last year.
So when they entered the field yesterday, the teams were on level terms.
But after half-hour of enterprising play, the Sangre Grande squad might well feel they should have had the lead. It was just ten minutes into the match when big stopper Charles Pollard got their first chance.
Pollard could not believe his luck when his powerful header deflected onto the fingertips of goalie Selwyn George and off the Defence Force crossbar. The Guyanese defender, having come forward for a corner-kick, came as close as possible without scoring.
The Stars came close a couple more times, but on each occasion Shawn Lee was not as clinical as he needed to be in front of goal. Having also tried to pick out Randolph Jerome for much of the first half, they would have been most disappointed with his effort when they finally succeeded in freeing him.
The dangerous Guyanese front-man had the goal laid out on a platter for him by a deceptive pass from Glenton Wolfe, but hesitated to use his left foot from eight yards out. Instead, Jerome turned the ball onto his right foot and skied his shot overbar.
Striker Sherman "Ants" Phillip had the best chance for Defence Force in the 35th minute, but failed to get a short pass from Pope past the dive of Trevor Nottingham in the North East Stars goal.
After dominating the early portion of the second session, the Stars should have scored in the 58th minute. The chance came when Defence Force keeper George tried to be cute when handling a cross-ball and only succeeded in giving the ball to Jerome.
After eluding George, Jerome tried brute force to get the ball in the goal but on two occasions found the body of stopper Kelshall Alexander. The missed opportunity would return to haunt North East Stars.
Defence Force looked the stronger down the stretch and got the winner when Pope flicked the ball away from Nottingham from the resulting corner kick, after earlier striking an upright.
Later, substitute Devon Bobb would also get between Alexander and the Defence Force goalie, but just when he looked to give his team a deserved equaliser, George foiled his attempt to score.
San Juan Jabloteh took sole possession of the top spot in the T&T Pro-League when it edged Caledonia AIA 1-0, while previous joint front-runner Vibe CT 105 W Connection was held to a 2-2 draw by Joe Public, yesterday.
Hero for San Juan Jabloteh at the Marvin Lee Stadium, Macoya, was national defender Ian Gray, whose seventh-minute header from a right side centre was enough to give the reigning champ three valuable points.
Jabloteh now has 13 points after five matches, two ahead of W Connection while Starworld Strikers is next with 10.
At the Ato Boldon Stadium in Couva, W Connection had only itself to blame for its slip up, twice blowing the lead to the youthful Eastern Lions who were without key players Keyeno Thomas, Nigel Pierre and Derek King, all in Africa on national duty.
W Connection, which was also without skipper Reynold Carrington, Silvio Spann, Kerwyn Jemmott and second-string goalkeeper Jan-Michael Williams, took the lead in the 43rd minute through ex-Joe Public player Arnold Dwarika for a 1-0 lead at the break.
But two minutes into the second half, Andre Toussaint answered coach Ron La Forest’s call to rediscover his scoring touch and levelled the scores. Kittitian midfielder George Isaac restored W Connection’s one goal cushion in the 70th minute.
However with five minutes left, Devon Caseman earned the Eastern Lions a deserved share of the points, with his first goal of the campaign.
Starworld Strikers, got goals from Jahvon Neptune, Errol Charles, Kester Cornwall to defeat Tobago United 3-0 at the Mannie Ramjohn Stadium, Marabella.
Senior Teams.
Defence Force 1 (Russell Pope, 84th) vs North East Stars 0.
W. Connection 2 (Arnold Dwarika, George Isaac) vs Joe Public 2 (Andre Toussaint, Devon Caseman).
San Juan Jabloteh 1 (Ian Gray, 5th) vs Caledonia AIA 0.
Starworld Strikers 3 (Kester Cornwall, Javon Neptune, Errol Charles) vs Tobago United 0.
SWIF 1 (Jace Peters) vs Arima Fire 1 (Handel Manswell).
U-20 Teams.
W Connection 6 (Kenwyne Jones 10, Brenton De Leon 29, Christopher Durity 43, Jason Marcano 50, 73, 83) vs Joe Public 1 (Dwight Scott 45).
Defence Force 4 (Kerry Joseph 9, Keron Edwards 44, Clevon George 76, Emmanuel Noel 85) vs North East Stars 3 (Irvin Reyes 3, 5, Matthew Durham 74).
Arima Fire 2 (Akil Guevera, Clyde Leon) vs SWIF (0).
Starworld Strikers 5 (Donrick Mascall 20, 30, Kenwyne Richard 43, Damian La Fortune, Anthony Noriega), Tobago Utd 2 (Elroy Phillips, Dyke Reid).
Caledonia 1 (Seon Jack 14), CLF Jabloteh 2 (Rennie Bristol 58, Marvin Joseph 65).