San Juan Secondary Comprehensive's Akil Harley, right, outjumps St George's College striker Marlon St Louis during their British Gas SSFL East Zone match at the St George's College Ground in Barataria yesterday. San Juan won 3-1. Photo: MICHEAL BRUCE
San Juan Secondary Comprehensive came away with another victory yesterday as they took sole possession of second place in the BG T&T Secondary Schools Football League East Zone standings.
San Juan travelled to St George's College ground on Sixth Avenue and did to them what the Bourg Mulatresse school had done to Barataria over the weekend, registering a 3-1 victory in the process.
At Warren Street, leaders St Augustine Senior Secondary (13 points) maintained their unbeaten streak with a thumping 6-0 win over debutants Valencia High School and are three points ahead of San Juan. Defending zonal champs Arima Senior Comprehensive, who managed to squeeze out a 1-0 victory yesterday, are also on ten points with San Juan but are third in the eight-team table because of an inferior goal difference. And Hillview College trampled Barataria 7-2 at the Marvin Lee Stadium yesterday.
Back at St George's Ground, San Juan made their away game seem like a fixture on their own Bourg Mulatresse field.
The visitors moved the ball expertly along the turf despite its hard uneven nature and seemed to better adapt to the conditions than their hosts.
The midfield foursome of Terryl Elwin, captain Elijah Manner, Ayinde George and Kerry Daniel effectively shifted the attack from wing to wing, using the full width of the pitch to telling and tiring effect on the over-worked St George's defence.
Ironically, 'George's' defender Cleavon Brathwaite, latching onto a loose ball from five metres on top of the San Juan penalty area, fired home a shot that careened off the underside of the crossbar to send the homesters 1-0 up after quarter of an hour. That came against the run of play.
But after that, San Juan imposed their will on the game with speedy wing run from Daniel on the left and Elwin on the right. They were the beneficiaries of good lobbed passes from the centre of the field.
Striker Michael Brown, whipping a shot past George's goalkeeper Baird after 24 minutes, was the recipient of some good flank work by the industrious Daniel. It was then 1-1.
The pattern of play continued in the second half, with San Juan favouring Elwin on the right to launch their forward forays against which St George's managed to hold up well, until the pressure finally forced an error by a tired Baird- who cleared the ball onto Elwin who collected and shot into an open net.
Then, a weary tackle by Ryan Henry on the weaving, tricky Elwin in the penalty area, gave San Juan substitute Lester Bruce the chance to convert a penalty that signalled the final outcome of the game.
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