AN unenterprising Valtrin United line-up scored a late item to savage a point in a 1-1 draw against Pacemakers FC in a Group One encounter of the Eddie Hart Football League (EHFL) on Sunday night at the Eddie Hart Savannah, Tacarigua.
The beneficiary of Crichlow's effort was Michael Hospedales, who had the simplest of tasks to put a piercing pass down the heart of their opponents' defence past an advancing goalkeeper. Before Crichlow's intervention, Pacemakers looked like claiming all three points after Akeem Joseph had curled a 25-metre left-footed free-kick past the helpless Valtrin keeper.
It was Valtrin's opening game of the 2009 EHFL campaign, while it was Pacemakers' second. They won their first Group One game by a 3-2 margin over Arouca Hustlers.
In other games, Trincity Nationals went under for the second occasion in a row on the back of a 1-0 defeat to an inspired St Joseph United last Thursday.
Jonathan Rodriquez capitalised on a blunder from Nationals' custodian Frank Nanton, who in attempting to clear the ball struck the back of a defender for a very alert Rodriquez to pounce on the rebound to score in an empty net.
On the same night, St John United overwhelmed an under-cooked Paradise squad 4-1 to register their maiden success after two games.
Santos FC, the 2007 champs, had to come-from-behind to take full points via a 3-2 win over stubborn South Eastern Connections. Ricardo Alleyne found the back of the net in the second half to pace El Do Milan to a 1-0 victory over 1TTR and at the same time register their second triumph to start the season on a high in Group Three.
Milan were coming off an unexpected 2-0 success over mighty Trincity Nationals. On the other side, 1TTR lost for the first time, following a 1-1 draw with St Joseph United in their debut outing.
In the second game last Wednesday, RSSR put in a very good second half performance to share the spoils in a 2-2 draw with Temple United in Group One. Midfielder Anthony George had a tremendous game in the centre of the park for RSSR and deservedly registered the equaliser for his club.
It came after K Alexander had reduced Temple's 2-0 half time lead midway through the second period. Enrique Layne notched his second item of the season for Temple, while Andy George opened his account. Striker Ellis Dyatt maintained his early goal-scoring habit when he netted on three occasions to help MASSH Internationals to an emphatic 4-0 drubbing of First Engineering Battalion (1st ENG BN) last week Tuesday evening in a Group Two affair.