Call him professor Ron La Forrest, the former national football player and coach who has been making waves in T&T Super League with Guaya United. La Forrest, who has earned the right to be addressed as ‘professor’ at the Guayaguayare team, saw them continue their unbeaten run to date, with a convincing 3-1 triumph over 1976 Phoenix at the Guayaguayare Recreation in front of hundreds of fans.
La Forest told Guardian Media Sports that he has had to conduct major clean-up work with respect to players’ attitude and discipline, since being recalled to the team last year. Ironically, during his first stint back in 2014, he guided them to the League title before being axed for making an impromptu trip to the United States on business.
According to La Forrest: “When I took over the team last year, I had to do fundamental cleaning. After that I was able to take the team from 11th to fourth at the end of the season. This year, however, I selected my own players and ensured that everyone respected one another first, before receiving a commitment that everyone had a role to play to ensure the success of the team.”
With that commitment understood by everyone, striker Shaquille Ferrier responded by giving his team the lead on the 66th minute mark, before the prolific Carlon Hughes made sure of victory with goals in the 75th and 91st, which also propelled him to second on the goalscoring chart with 11 goals from 10 matches.
The Guaya men are now top of the standing with 26 points from eight wins and two drawn matches in 10 games. Professor La Forest said there will be no letting up when they face fourth place Defence Force in their next match to complete the first half of the league. “With the momentum we have now there will be absolutely no letting up because we have worked too hard to be where we are presently. We will be attacking the Army with the same intensity as any other team and I can assure you, we will be taking that momentum to the end of the season.”
The University of T&T moved to second on the standing when they held off Queen’s Park CC 1-0 in a gruelling contest at the Training Field of the Hasely Crawford Stadium, courtesy a 22nd minute goal from Theon James, while champs FC Santa Rosa got a hat-trick from the competition’s leading goals scorer Keron Clarke in the 74th, 81st and 93rd minutes in thrashing Police 4-0 at the St James Barracks in St James.
Santa Rosa’s ‘Big Cannons’ moved to third with 19 points from nine games while table proppers Bethel FC succumbed to their seventh defeat of the season, going down 0-2 to Cunupia FC at the Mt Gomery Recreation Ground in Tobago. In another game, WASA FC and Siparia Spurs played to a goalless draw at Fyzabad Petrotrin Sports Club Grounds.
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