St Vincent and the Grenadines international Shandel Samuel scored a second-half beaver-trick to lead Eastern Football Association winners Malabar FC to a 4-0 thrashing of St Francois National in their penultimate T&T Football Federation Champions of Champions qualifier at UTT Ground, O’Meara Road, Arima, on Wednesday night.
With the lopsided win, Malabar FC joined Eastern Counties Football Union’s Guaya United as qualifiers for this year’s 2013 Blink/bmobile National Super League after the latter battled to a 2-2 draw away to Enterprise Youths at Edinburgh 500 Recreation Ground to stay top of the six-team table after four matches with ten points, one more than Malabar.
At Arima, Samuel, formerly of Digicel T&T Pro League club Neal & Massy Caledonia AIA, opened the scoring in the 63rd minute and quickly added another in the 68th minute against the winless St Francois, the Northern Football Association champions.
The nippy Samuel then completed his hat-trick in the 75th before he got another in ten minutes from the end to carry his tally to five in four matches.
Enterprise entered its match against the table leaders needing all three points to stay alive for a top-two finish and got the perfect start when Denzil Daniel netted in the 26th minute for a 1-0 advantage.
However, just before the half, Leroy Jones (40th) and the in form Carlon Hughes (41st) hit back for Guaya to take a 2-1 lead.
Five minutes into the second half, Enterprise drew level via former national youth team striker Ryan Frederick after which his team pressed for the winner.
But, in the end, both teams had to settle for a share of the points, ensuring Guaya of qualification to the Super League along with runner-up Malabar.
In the other match, Point Fortin Civic Centre and Bethel United also battled to a 2-2 draw at Mahaica Oval, Point Fortin.
The three clubs relegated from last season’s Super League won by WASA were Eagles, Club Sando and Biche United.
The final round of matches in the round-robin qualifiers will take place on March 24.
Wednesday’s matches:
Pt Fortin CC 2 (Stephen Joseph 13th, Darryl Pope 83rd) vs Bethel Utd 2 (Dwayne Mitchell 23rd, Anton Primus 54th)
Enterprise Youths 2 (Denzil Daniel 26th, Ryan Frederick 48th) vs Guaya Utd 2 (Leroy Jones 40th, Carlon Hughes 41st)
Malabar 4 (Shandel Samuel 63rd, 68th, 75th, 80th) vs St Francois Nationals 0
Remaining fixtures
March 24:
Pt Fortin CC vs Enterprise Youths, Mahaica Oval, Pt Fortin, 4 pm
St Francois Nationals vs Guaya Utd, Diego Martin North Sec. Grd, 4 pm
Bethel Utd vs Malabar FC, Plymouth Rec. Ground, 4 pm
Current standings
Teams P W D L F A Pts
Guaya Utd 4 3 1 0 14 6 10
Malabar 4 3 0 1 14 6 9
Bethel Utd 4 1 2 1 7 7 5
Enterprise 4 1 2 1 6 10 5
Pt Fortin 4 1 1 2 8 10 4
St Francois 4 0 0 4 3 13 0
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