St. Benedict’s maintain six-point lead

Yesterday, at the Manny Ramjohn Stadium in Marabella, Benedict’s star striker Derrel “Zoom Zoom” Garcia netted his 11th goal of the season.

Garcia’s insurance item came in the 79th minute after an Adam Pierre-taken free-kick opened the scoring for the “La Romaine Lions” in the first half, in yesterday’s top-of-the-table clash against southern rivals Presentation College (San Fernando).

Meanwhile, defending league champions Fatima shut out Queen’s Royal College 3-0 to move into second on 29 points, with “Pres” dropping to third, a further point adrift, but with a match in hand.

Given St Benedict’s strong defence and dynamic forward line, one might reasonably conclude that the title race is over, had news not broke yesterday about the Ministry of Education (MoE) indicating that Garcia may not be a legitimately registered student and, allegedly, had not been attending school for a year.

Without stating such, SSFL president Merere Gonzales indicated that there may be serious implications for both Garcia and St Benedict’s.

“It has reached that level,” Gonzales told the Express yesterday.

“At this point in time, the Ministry of Education, of which the SSFL is part of, is the party that is held with the responsibility of dealing with it,” indicated Gonzales. He added: “At this point in time, it is an ongoing process that is being dealt with.”

St Benedict’s and National Under-20 team head coach Ronald Boyce also briefly touched on the matter following his team’s vital win over “Pres”. He said his focus was on the field.

Boyce’s advice to his players before kick-off was, “we have to do our job on the field and administration have to deal with administrative issues.”

Boyce preferred to dwell on his team’s strong defending, in a match in which Presentation allowed them only 38% possession.

Benedict’s solid backline paved the way for them to have a few moments on the counter-attack, and Pierre and Garcia to score.

“They couldn’t break us down,” Boyce boasted. “Now, people actually know (that) St Benedict’s could defend. They always watch us for our attack, and our quality, and out style of play, but they didn’t really see us as a team that could really defend. But they see a different team today.”

Meanwhile, Presentation’s head coach Shawn Cooper surmised, “Both goals were scored against the run of play.”

Pierre got a 39th minute opener from a set play, with his free-kick going in off the hand of the goalkeeper, after Presentation captain Cody Cooper was penalised for persistent tugging on Garcia’s shirt.

And following less than stellar defending, combined with Garcia’s immaculate touch and finish between two defenders, Benedict’s got a second courtesy Garcia.

And the league’s top scorer came close to recording a brace after another strike of his struck the base of the far post, arising from a counter-attack in added-on time.

But there could be serious consequences regarding St Benedict’s’ season, depending on what the MoE decides.

And as such the race for the SSFL title might not yet be over, certainly not for Fatima or Presentation.

SSFL RESULTS: (Yesterday)

Presentation College, San Fernando 0 vs St. Benedict’s College 2 (Adam Pierre 39', Derrel Garcia 79') 

QRC 0 vs Fatima College 3 (Luke Correia 20', 28', Caden Trestrail 90+2')

Signal Hill 0 vs Naparima College 1 (Arron Raymond 36')

East Mucurapo Secondary (Kadeem Morrison 64') vs Arima North Secondary 2 (Jaquan Aguilleria 44', Criston Gomez 90+1')

Miracle Ministries PHS 0 vs St. Augustine Secondary 1 (Ky-Mani Hazel 90+3')

Malick Secondary 2 (Tyrese Manswell 39', Jaheem Homer 74') vs St. Anthony’s College 1 (Jean-Marc Thomas 60')

St Mary’s College 1 (Nadeem Grant 10') vs Trinity College East 2 (Khaleem Prince 9', 79')

(Tuesday )

San Juan North 3 (Lindell Sween 27', 36', Jahdel Chase-Charles 33') vs Speyside 0

SOURCE: T&T Express