Tigers send 'Pres' home

But in a game where the rain poured down bucket-a-drop and the goals poured in at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, the Presentation College posses never dropped their rhythm. Or lost heart.

It did not seem to matter that their side gave them just one of the seven goals to cheer at.

For even after the southerners had seen their beloved "Pres" ripped to shreds by the "Tigers" from St Anthony's College, the masses in blue and white assembled to the west were still in full voice.

"We not goin home!" they chanted, "We not goin home!"

And they did not budge until their soggy and dejected team trotted across to salute them.

It was a priceless moment, a reminder in these sometimes passionless nineties of the spirit of a bygone era.

But no amount of fervour could alter the 6-1 scoreline, or the fact that Presentation College are out of Royal Bank Intercol.

While the "Pres" fans and their rhythm sections won the battle of the supporters hands down, on the field it was a no-contest.

At a conservative estimate, St Anthony's muffed as many chances as they scored.

So rampant were they in the second half, greed sometimes overtook them.

The rain had stopped by then. And against a side struggling to keep their shape, the slick but not too heavy surface was tailor-made for the shifty, nippy players in red and white.

It had been a different story in the first half, though.That was a tale of two penalties and one heroic goalkeeper.

Twice the Presentation custodian Marvin Phillip was put to the test from the spot; twice he came up trumps.

The game was just six minutes old when he dived to his left, first to parry a Sean Cooper kick and then to block two follow-up attempts.

Half-an-hour later, when Cooper was tripped in the box, Phillip, the national Under-17 reserve keeper, had the southern posses howling again, pushing away Gary Gibbings's kick.

But Presentation's hopes of parity at the half faded when Damien Westfield pounced six minutes before the interval. Latching onto a pass threaded through the middle of the Presentation defence, he shot crisply into the left hand corner of the net.

It opened the floodgates but not immediately. In the second half, the Tigers, led by Cooper, rushed in.

The St Anthony's winger scored just one of the five second-half items. But he was more architect than executioner, creating four.

Given acres of space in which to play, he roamed the pitch as did many of his colleagues. But he proved not to be the aimless wanderer.

One minute into the second period, Cooper's run from midfield took out one, then two defenders before a pass to the right found Abiola Clarence. He fired nonchalantly into the far corner.

Fading Presentation hopes were revived four minutes later when skipper Kern Bernard converted the third penalty of the game.

But right winger Wendell Alexander re-established the status quo in the 71st minute. Cooper found him from the left, and he scored from the right with a shot that slipped from Phillip's grasp and went in at the near post.

The iron men were still pounding out their rhythms. But only the Tigers were on the move.

Cooper, shifting his man right, then left drilled a shot past Phillip for number four with sixteen minutes left.

And before the end, Clarence got a second and substitute Marcus Rodriguez his first since recovering from injury.

He ran away to celebrate that strike and his side's passage into the quarterfinals where they will meet north rivals Queen's Royal College.

All the Presentation posse had left was their music and their spirit.

But that was enough for them.

Today, the North/South battle will continue at Skinner Park when Naparima and St Mary's College meet in the first quarterfinal at 4 p.m.

And from 3 p.m, the Championship Division fate of Fatima College will be determined when Success Laventille meet St Anthony's in the Senior Division final at QRC ground.