DirecTV North East Stars and Police secured the final quarterfinal places in the Digicel Pro Bowl after comfortable wins over FC SouthEnd and St Ann’s Rangers, respectively on Friday night.
This was in the qualifying round double-header at the Larry Gomes Stadium, Malabar. In the night’s opener Police signalled its intention from early on with lanky midfielder Todd Ryan having an effort on goal in the 16 minute which was blocked out by goalkeeper Fortunato Valcourt.
Police custodian Emmanuel Nurse, who was a spectator for most of the night, was called into action in the 26th minute to keep out a low shot from Bryant Constantine.
But nine minutes later the Lawmen finally went ahead against Rangers when Sayid Freitas put through striker Akeem Marshall, who easily fired past the advancing Valcourt with a right footed shot that went in off the left post.
The lively Freitas almost had a hand in another goal for Police as after he earned his team a free-kick which Ryan blasted in on goal, only to be denied by Valcourt for a 1-0 half-time score.
A minute into the second-half, Jason Boodram almost doubled Police’s lead but his effort slammed into the crossbar, however in the 67th minute the second goal deservedly came via Freitas.
Freitas was on spot to fire past Valcourt after a muffed effort by team-mate Jason Boodram fell into his path from a Noel Williams’ right-sided cross.
The match was all over as eight minutes later Williams hammered home a penalty that awarded after Rangers substitute Aaron Stewart sliced down Freitas inside the 18-yard box.
Three minutes from the final whistle, Boodram completed the drubbing when he collected a short pass in the penalty-area and cooley picked his spot past Valcourt.
Ten-man Stars dump SouthEnd
The Sangre Grande-based Stars stayed on course to reach a fourth final this season, after first-half goals by Anthony Wolfe and St Vincent and the Grenadines veteran Kendall Velox secured a 2-0 shut-out of FC SouthEnd.
It was the third straight Knockout tournament victory for Stars over South End this season after triumphs in the Lucozade Sports Goal Shield (3-0) and First Citizens Cup (2-1).
However, Friday’s win could be very costly as Wolfe was red carded and will miss his team’s quarterfinal clash. Stars began brightly took the lead in the 12th minute via a penalty conversion by Wolfe past goalkeeper Aquelius Sylvester.
This after Stars midfielder Kaydion Gabriel was bundled over in the 18-yard box by Eddison Smart after a clever one-two with Jamaican forward Sean Fraser.
On the stroke of half-time, Velox made it 2-0 with a powerful effort which goalkeeper Sylvester got his hand too but it was too powerful to be stopped. Stars continued to dominate in the second-half and should have added to their tally but Fraser was guilty of a glaring miss from a Wolfe feed.
Five minutes from the final whistle Stars was reduced to ten-men when Wolfe was shown two yellow cards within the space of some seconds by referee Michael Ragoonath, the first for a foul and then, another for dissent.
Police and Stars, now join defending champion, bmobile Joe Public, 2009 finalists Caledonia AIA, Defence Force, W Connection, Ma Pau and Jabloteh in the quarterfinal round which kicks off on Friday.
• Results
Police 4 (Akeem Marshall 35th, Sayid Freitas 67th, Noel Williams 75th pen, Jason Boodram 87th) vs Rangers 0.
Stars 2 (Anthony Wolfe 13th pen, Kendall Velox 45th) vs South End 0.