Former Soca Warriors World Cup striker and T&T’s leading goalscorer, Stern John, scored a double as debutant D 14 FC blanked Santa Cruz Touring Team 2-0 for their third win from as many matches in the Gerard Craigwell four-team group of the Santa Cruz Football Cup. This was at the Brian Lara Recreation Ground, Sam Boucaud, Lower Santa Cruz on Sunday.
With the win, D 14 which also featured former national players Gary Glasgow, Kevin Jeffrey and World Cup dup Dennis “Tallest” Lawrence and Marvin “Dog” Andrews in its line-up ended group play with maximum nine points for a spot in the 16-team knockout stage where it was joined by group runner-up Valencia, 2-0 victors over San Juan San Juan to end with six points.
A week earlier, Glasgow got the lone goal for D 14 in its 1-0 win over Valencia to add to its 4-2 thumping of San Juan San Juan in its opener in which John also scored a brace.
In the Kenneth Lester Group, defending champion Beckles Environmental River Plate got a lone item from Tyrone Charles to cool off Hot Shots 1-0 and also ended with maximum nine points to advance along with the losers, and Macoya FC who played to a 2-2 draw on Saturday.
The drawn result left Hot Shots and Macoya both with four points, but Hot Shots has a superior goal-difference while Macoya is certain to be one of the four best second placed teams.
The quintet of second round qualifiers were joined by Mortimer Joseph Group winners Cantaro and runner-up Police.
This after Jamal Williams scored a double and Rondell Austin, the other in Cantaro’s entertaining 3-2 win over former champions Police on Monday.
With the win, Cantaro ended with seven points, one ahead of Police which got its goals from Britto cousins, Jerrol and Rennie.
San Juan Youths stayed in contention to qualify as one of the best third placed teams after spanking La Pastora 4-1 led by a double from Joshua Leach and one each from national Under-20 striker Brent Sam and J Trimingham.
On Tuesday, Sam Boucaud sealed its qualification from the Moses Vidale Group after a 2-2 draw with VFI to end with seven points, four more than Nazarene, which slipped past VFI, 2-1 in its final match.
In the Charlie De Bourg, both Caledonia Reserves and Pipiol with four points each from two matches are certain to move on with onr round of matches left, and in the Alfred Gordon Group, Real Pipiol is through after Kern Robinson banged in two to cancel out Keron Ottley’s strike for Pacemakers and push his team to six points with a match left against Frontline, today, from 4.15pm.
The winners’ of this year’s league will collect $20,000 and the Santa Cruz Football Cup challeng trophy while the runner-up gets $10,000, third $5,000 and fourth, $3,000.
Results
Kenneth Lester Group
River Plate 1 (Tyrone Charles) vs Hot Shots 0
June 22:
Macoya FC 2 (Tahir Liverpool, Ricardo Allen) vs Hot Shots 2 (Shaquille Smith, Dwight Quanto)
Mortima Joseph Group
Police 4 (Noel Williams, J. Stoute, Jason Scotland, Hayden Jones) vs San Juan Youths 0
Cantaro United 0 vs La Pastora 0
San Juan Youths 4 (Jousha Leach 2, Brent Sam, J. Trimingham) vs La Pastora 1 (Adrian Morris)
Cantaro 3 (Jamal Williams 2, Rondell Austin) vs Police 2 (Jerrol Britto, Rennie Britto)
Alfred Gordon Group
Real Pipiol 2 (Kern Robinson 2) vs Pacemakers 1 (Keron Ottley)
Gerard Craigwell Group
D 14 FC 1 (Gary Galsgow) vs Valencia 0
D 14 FC 2 (Stern John 2) vs Santa Cruz Touring Team 0
Valencia 2 vs San Juan San Juan 0
Moses Vidale Group
Nazarene FC 2 (Kerron Romany, Andre Stephenson) vs VFI 1 (Kaleb George)
Sam Boucaud 2 vs VFI 2
Fixtures
Today:
Real Pipiol vs Frontline, 4.15pm