Pres do South double

In very similar fashion to the way the deposed South champions defeated them last year, ’Pres’ returned the favour at Mannie Ramjohn Stadium in Marabella, this time with a narrow 5-4 triumph on kicks from the penalty spot, after a 1-1 regulation time scoreline.

Despite ’Naps’ having a Winchester in their arsenal--national Under-17 player Shahdon Winchester, that is--Pres withstood a charge at the end of the first half and a similar assault early in the second, for a 1-1 full-time scoreline, after both teams found the target from the penalty mark in either half.

Adisa Cumberbatch was the unlucky Naps player to miss his kick, smothered by the arms of substitute goalkeeper Terrence Ramsaroop, their only blemish.

Ramsaroop, Pres’s frontline goalie, sat out the 90 minutes of regulation time, with coach Shawn Cooper explaining after the match that Wesley Douglas had earned his chance to start the match. But when it came down to crunch time with the shootout looming, he entrusted that task to his more experienced custodian.

’Terrence is a better penalty saver,’ Cooper pointed out, ’so I placed him in the goal.’

Ramsaroop repaid his confidence in kind. In regular play, Presentation took a 1-0 advantage to the break thanks to a 16th minute spot kick by Rodney Young, after Tristan Khan was deemed, perhaps controversially, to have been brought down in the area.

Both teams had chances to punish their arch-rivals of nearly six decades, perhaps Naps having more, including two from Winchester, one of which he really should have scored from close range.

Winchester was Pres’s tormentor again in the second half and needed little more than seven minutes to bring his team back into the match, again from the spot. Dwayne Edwards stepped up in the 53rd for Naps, drawing them level even though goalie Wesley Douglas guessed well and dove to his right.

A minute later Winchester slammed the metalwork to shock Douglas at the near post. Naps skipper Anthony Parris shot just over after Winchester ran the length of the field and Pres answered with a header just wide.

Tyler Scipio could have restored Pres’s lead, but twice failed to get his head to balls floated diagonally across the box.

Winchester retreated further as the match wound down and even made a couple of timely interventions.

With 11 minutes to go, Frederick thought he had given Naps the lead for about four seconds when he floated the ball in and Douglas misjudged it, but managed to push it onto the crossbar with his fingertips.

The match went to the shootout and Pres, having drawn and won against Naps in their two previous meetings, proved once more to have their number.

’This goes to show that the (gap) between the both teams has closed,’ Cooper said, ’and there is a next team in South to be reckoned with.’

True words they have turned out to be.

InterCol action continues today in the North where St Mary’s oppose arch-rivals QRC from 5 p.m. at Hasely Crawford Stadium, preceded at 3 p.m. by the BG T&T Girls InterCol final between Debe Secondary and Providence Girls.

Pres dethrone Naps in south final.
By: Kevin Sunich (T&T Guardian).

Custodian Terrence Ramsaroop was the hero for Presentation as it dethroned Naparima in the final of the South Zone of the Secondary Schools Football League’s 2009 Coca Cola Intercol played at the Mannie Ramjohn Stadium, Marabella yesterday.

In a repeat of last year’s final, the game went down to penalty kicks after a 1-1 scoreline at the end of regulation time. Pres then turned the tables on Naps, winning the shootout 5-4. A tactical decision by Pres coach Shaun Cooper to substitute goalkeeper Wesley Douglas with less than three minutes left and replace him with Ramsaroop, may have made the difference.

Ramsaroop saved the third kick, taken by Adisa Cumberbatch to settle the match. This marked the second time this season that Presentation has dethroned Naps, after taking the zonal league title. The match started at a furious pace as both teams went after the opening goal.

Against the run of play, Pres took the lead when Tristan Khan ran into the box and was adjudged to be brought down, resulting in a penalty. Rodney Young made no mistake with his 16th minute strike.

The defending champs had its share of opportunities to go ahead, however none of the players including national senior team selectee Shahdon Winchester, who had two chances was able to find the net. At the end of the first period the scoreline was unchanged, but on the resumption Naps turned on the pressure with a number of attacks. Its constant runs at the Presentation’s defence finally paid off in the 54th minute when Winchester was brought down in the box and a penalty was awarded.

 Dwayne Edwards then successfully took the kick to make it 1-1, which brought some life into the Naps rhythm section. The six time-zonal league champs continued to torment the Presentation defence, however it was unable to find the winner despite creating a number of scoring opportunities.

Result

PRESENTATION 1 (Rodney Young (Pen) 16th) vs NAPARIMA 1 (Dwayne Edwards (Pen) 54th)
Pres won 5-4 on penalty kicks