Mucurapo Senior Comprehensive stretched their lead in the North Zone of the BG T&T Secondary Schools Football League to two points yesterday when they earned a comfortable 2-0 win over Malick Secondary Comprehensive at St Anthony's ground yesterday.
Mucurapo started their encounter with Malick brightly, going on the attack early, but a solid Malick defence kept them at bay in the first half. In fact, no team could break the deadlock in the opening period. Both sides had their chances though, with Mucurapo having the better ones.
In the second half, Mucurapo continued to assert pressure, and it finally paid off in the 58th minute, when Akim Armstrong controlled the ball after a string of passes at the edge of the Malick 18-metre box, and slotted past Malick goalkeeper Gabriel Daniel for a 1-0 Compre advantage.
Malick upped the tempo, hunting for the equaliser, relying on the speedy Hayden Tinto---who had the constant company of two, sometimes three defenders. But the Morvant side leaned too heavily on the diminutive player's shoulders instead of taking advantage of other options.
Instead, Mucurapo sealed the deal in the 89th minute, Keshawn Hunte capitalising on a terrible defensive blunder when a defender mis-kicked in the penalty area, rammed the ball beneath Daniel, shooting from a central position for a decisive 2-0 scoreline.
The "Tigers" of St Anthony's seem ready to challenge Mucurapo for their third North Zone League title on the trot, as they got past CIC 2-0 at their Serpentine Road ground, thanks to goals on either side of half-time. Akil De Freitas gave St Anthony's their first after 11 minutes, and Kevon Neaves polished off the home team five minutes from full time.
In the other North Zone fixtures on the day, Fatima hosted Morvant/Laventille at their Mucurapo Road ground, and struggled to avoid defeat, pulling off an equaliser in the final five minutes from Marvin James. The draw gave the visitors their first point of the season.
QRC meanwhile came from a goal down at home to beat Tranquillity 2-1, with two second half goals from Delano Pierre and Franz Husbands being sufficient to overcome a one-goal first half deficit.
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