Nigel Grovesnor, the St Anthony’s College coach has said he is concerned about today’s Intercol semifinal encounter with Carapichaima at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Mucurapo from 3 pm.
“The last time we defeated St Mary’s College in the North Zone Intercol final was because we were prepared for it. We had revenge on our minds because the ‘saint’ had beaten us in the league 3-0 so we wanted to get back at them badly,” Grovesnor said.
He said that it will more or less be the same concept for today since they defeated the Central team in the league earlier and expectations are that they will be coming to exact revenge.
“In addition to losing to us earlier in the season, Carapichaima has also been religated so that they will have nothing to lose against us come tomorrow (today). We will not be taking them lightly at all,” he said.
He explained that his team had a good training session on Saturday and yesterday and he has been talking to his players about the importance of this game.
“I have been telling the players that we cannot afford to give anything away or even take Carapichaima lightly because winning the National Intercol is so much sweeter than just taking their exit at the semifinal rounds,” Grovesnor said.
The “Tigers”, as they have been known popularly, have won the National Intercol title on six occasions and have copped the league crown three times. He described this as a good achievement but he promised that he will not sit on his laurels for today and the rest of the matches, until they claim the title for yet another time.
A victory for either team will put them into the final where they will await the winner between South Zone champion Naparima College and St Augustine, who yesterday edged Speyside 2-1 in Tobago.
Meanwhile Carapichaima coach Kevin Jeffreys said yesterday that his players are upbeat and looking forward for the clash today.
“Although we have been relegated, the results are not a proper reflection of how the team performed throughout the season. Our main problem has been scoring goals and we have been lacking badly there. When we last played the Tigers we were leading 1-0 but lost the match because of two defensive blunders,” Jeffreys said.
The central team will, for the first time, be back to full strength and Jeffreys said his team are looking forward to today’s match.
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‘Tigers’ eyeing InterCol final berth.
By Sean Taylor (Express).
The 2015 Secondary Schools Football League (SSFL) season is rapidly nearing its finale, as St Anthony's College take on Carapichaima East Secondary 4.15pm today at the Hasely Crawford Stadium in the first semi-final of the Coca-Cola National InterCol competition.
Carapichaima qualified for the semi-final after they prevailed 3-0 winners over Presentation College Chaguanas in the Central Zone Final on Saturday at the Ato Boldon Stadium.
St Anthony's are most people's favourites to go through to the final, however they are not taking the “Caps” challenge lightly. “We are confident for the semi-final, but we take no team for granted,” said Simon Joseph, the captain of the North Zone InterCol champions.
The Westmoorings “Tigers” edged Carapichaima 2-1 the first time the two sides met this season, and have also beaten them 1-0 in the 2011 Big Five at the Ato Boldon Stadium, however today's match is one that Nigel Grosvenor is taking seriously.
He told the Express shortly after Thursday's final against St Mary's College that he intended to work with his charges on Monday, and that the he is not allowing complacency to creep in at this crucial stage.
The “Tigers” have steadily improved after a shaky start to the season, and will be expected to have a similar attacking approach today as they did in Thursday's North Zone final in which they beat CIC 3-1 at the same venue where they will be contesting today's semi.
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