San Juan Secondary Comprehensive at last have a challenge on their hands in the BGTT Secondary Schools Football League (SSFL) East Zone, as they dropped three points and a nine-point lead yesterday when they were edged 2-1 by El Dorado Secondary Comprehensive.
Carver Graham was the hero for the "Blue Thunder" of El Dorado, finding the mark in the 74th minute to put his team 2-1 ahead and eek out a narrow win.
Seven minutes before, Adrian Paul had cancelled El Dorado's 1-0 lead, given them by Avery Cabrales in the 16th. Julio Noel was the match-winner for Arima, blasting home in the 55th to give his team victory after a listless first half.
Arima's coaches implored their team to give a bigger effort in the second half, having run past Trinity on several occasions without a goal to show for it. It might have been this talking to that sparked life into Arima's attack, as they hounded Trinity for ten minutes straight before their breakthough came.
They thought they had the goal in the 50th, but after Aaron Joseph slid the ball past Trinity goalkeeper Jason Jattan, Trent Cockburn injured himself clearing it off the line.
Still, two rousing saves later, Jattan could do nothing to stop Noel's bullet after some fine through play in the midfield.
Trinity actually dominated the final 20 minutes of the match, but their composure was lacking and the chances they did get were most times spurned by their own feet, or stopped by Arima custodian Craig Joseph.
Donnell Herbert and Tahj Selvon were both on target, but were hustled into shooting by the Arima defence, leaving Joseph easy saves to make.
The win keeps Arima in with a chance of battling El Dorado and San Juan for the East title, but the latter are unlikely to be derailed easily after dropping only their first points at home yesterday. St Augustine Secondary Comprehensive also earned a 2-0 win away to Toco Composite.
In the other SSFL zones, rain forced a host of matches to be postponed. In the North, Mucurapo Secondary Comprehensive maintained their lead with a 4-0 thrashing of Malick Secondary Comprehensive, while Vessigny Secondary kept second spot in the South Zone with a slim 2-1 victory over Siparia Secondary.
Yesterday's SSFL Scores:
North Zone
Fatima 2 vs St Mary's 2
Murcurapo 4 (Terrence Clarke 2; Kenaz Williams, Johan Peltier) Malick 0
Trinity vs St Anthony's-Postponed
East Zone
Trinity East 0 vs Arima 1 (Julio Noel 55th)
Toco 0 vs St Augustine 2
El Dorado 2 (Avery Cabrales16th, Carver Graham 74th) vs San Juan 1 (Adrian Paul 67th)
South Zone
Pres San Fernando vs St Benedicts-Postponed
Pleasantville vs Princes Town-Postponed
Siparia 1 (Akiel Pope 50th) vs Vessigny 2
17