Naps, Malick hold centre stage

Both teams will trav­el to Trin­i­ty Col­lege East grounds in Trinci­ty and square-off from 3.30 pm in round-four ac­tion for the top spot in the di­vi­sion.

Mal­ick is cur­rent­ly among three teams with­in one point of the reign­ing cham­pi­on Na­pari­ma, which sits on top of the 15-team stand­ings with sev­en points from three match­es from two wins and a draw. The leader en­ters the fray hav­ing most re­cent­ly de­feat­ed St Bene­dict’s Col­lege 3-0 in their mid­week clash. This af­ter drop­ping two points against East Mu­cu­rapo (2-2) and a win against St Mary's Col­lege (3-0) in their open­er.

Op­po­nent Mal­ick has had a dream start and has six points from its first two match­es af­ter de­feat­ing Spey­side (5-0) and Trin­i­ty Mo­ka (2-1). Its third-round match against Trin­i­ty Col­lege East was resched­uled due to a wa­ter­logged field in Trinci­ty.

The oth­er two teams keep­ing things in­ter­est­ing are Pre­sen­ta­tion Col­lege and Queen’s Roy­al Col­lege (QRC), who both have six points from three match­es - two wins and a loss.

The pre­sen­ta­tion will meet St Bene­dict’s Col­lege, which has three points af­ter three rounds of match­es. The cur­rent­ly 10th-place St Bene­dict's will be look­ing to add some in­trigue if it can up­set the third-placed "Pres" at the Man­nie Ramjohn Sta­di­um in Mara­bel­la.

QRC, with two wins and a loss, will host St An­tho­ny’s Col­lege. The "West­moor­ings Tigers" has had a steady start in­clud­ing a win and a draw from their two out­ings so far.

Pre­mier­ship Di­vi­sion
Round four (Start time 3.30 pm)

Trin­i­ty Col­lege Mo­ka vs Spey­side, Mo­ka, Mar­aval

St Au­gus­tine vs Cara­pichaima East, St Au­gus­tine

Queens Roy­al Col­lege vs St An­tho­ny’s Col­lege, QRC ground

St Bene­dict’s Col­lege vs Pre­sen­ta­tion Col­lege, Man­nie Ramjohn Sta­di­um

Mal­ick vs Na­pari­ma, Trin­i­ty East ground

San Juan North vs Trin­i­ty Col­lege East, San Juan

St Mary’s Col­lege vs Pleas­antville, St Mary's ground

East Mu­cu­rapo Sec­ondary - bye

Lat­est Stand­ings af­ter round three

Standings

Pl   Team   P   W   D   L   GF   GA   GD   PTS
1   Na­pari­ma Col­lege   3   2   1   0   8   2   6   7
2   Mal­ick 2   2   0   0   7   1   6   6
3   Pre­sen­ta­tion Col­lege   3   2   0   1   10   2   8   6
4   Queen’s Roy­al Col­lege   3   2   0   1   7   9   -2   6
5   East Mu­cu­rapo   3   1   2   0   7   3   4   5
6   Trin­i­ty Col­lege East   2   1   1   0   4   3   1   4
7   St An­tho­ny’s Col­lege   2   1   1   0   8   2   6   4
8   Cara­pichaima East 2   1   1   0   3   2   1   4
9   Pleas­antville   3   1   0   2   4   6   -2   3
10   St Bene­dict’s Col­lege   3   1   0   2   5   7   -2   3
11   Spey­side High   3   1   0   2   3   13   -10   3
12   Trin­i­ty Col­lege Moka   3   1   0   2   3   9   -6   3
13   St Au­gus­tine 3   0   2   1   4   6   -2   2
14   San Juan North 2   0   0   2   1   3   -2   0
15   St Mary’s Col­lege   3   0   0   3   2   10   -8   0

RELATED NEWS

Malick get Naps test today.
By Jelani Beckles (Newsday).

THE school with arguably the richest history in Secondary Schools football will battle the defending champions when round four of the 2019 Shell/First Citizens Secondary Schools Football League Premier Division kicks off at 3.30 pm, today.

Third placed Malick Secondary, a school that ruled schools football in the 1990s, will play 2018 champions Naparima College at the Trinity College East Ground in Trincity.

Malick have won both of their matches so far this season - a 5-0 win over Speyside Secondary in round one and a narrow 2-1 victory over Trinity Moka in round two. Malick's round three match against Trinity College East was postponed because of rain, on Wednesday.

Malick are only one point behind Naparima on the standings and will be eager for a win to leapfrog the league leaders on the standings.

Naparima are off to a strong start this season with two wins and one draw including a 3-0 win over St Benedict's College in the last round.

Yesterday, Malick coach Anthony Bartholomew said he wants his players to stay calm for today's match. "I just want them to be comfortable with themselves. I don't want them to have butterflies, I just want them to be comfortable and play to the best of their ability. That is all I want from them," the Malick coach said.

On the team's performance this season Bartholomew said, "I am satisfied with their football due to their age and the inexperience they have, they are not experienced. (It is a) young crew." It has been a high scoring season, but Malick's defence has shown their quality only allowing one goal in two matches.

Malick have produced a number of TT players including national men's football coach Dennis Lawrence, Arnold Dwarika, Brent Sancho, Gary Glasgow, Aurtis Whitley, Devorn Jorsling and Densill Theobald. Some of the former national players have spent time with the current team this season.

Bartholomew said the coaching staff reminds the team of what is needed to reach national level.

"We always try to tell them about the type of players (that attended Malick) and what is required of them to follow suit. (They must) be able to work hard."