North East Stars and Stokely Vale advanced out of the Toyota Classic quarter-final round on Tuesday night and would meet each other in the semi-final round on Friday night at the Hasely Crawford Stadium from 7pm.
Stars pulled the plug on T&TEC FC with a 6-2 win at the Manny Ramjohn Stadium and at the Hasely Crawford Stadium following a 3-3 thriller between Caledonia AIA and Super League outfit Stokely Vale, the Tobagonians surfaced 6-5 penalty winners.
Stokely Vale surprised the Caribbean Club Champions with opening goals by Ian Thomas (20th minute) and Rundell Winchester (29th minute) before Kareem Joseph (48th minute) pulled a goal back for the Morvant-Laventille club in the second period.
The Tobagonians returned its two-goal advantage by the 50th minute through a strike by Travis Winchester, however late goals by Caledonia’s Guyanese born players Aubrey David (85th minute) and Trayon Bobb (89th minute) leveled the scores 3-3.
And from kicks from the penalty mark, the fourth positioned Super League outfit Stokely Vale reached the semi-final round becoming only the second, second tier club to achieve such a feat after Joe Public in 2010.
While at the Marabella venue, North East Stars afforded themselves an easier ticket to the semi-final round.
Two goals each from attacker Kaydion Gabriel and striker Cornell Glen and one each from Kerry Baptiste and Micah Lewis gave the Angus Eve coached Stars a healthy win despite conceding second half goals by Tigana Sparks and Daniel Garcia.
Gabriel punished some slack T&TEC defending in only the first minute to score against goalkeeper Akini Adams for a 1-0 advantage.
He wrapped up his second in the 42nd minute with a comfortable finish past Adams and into the far netting following another lapse by the T&TEC defense to give his side a 2-0 cushion before the break.
It got worse for T&TEC just before the halftime whistle when Eustace Darius picked up his second yellow card from referee Cecil Hinds for a foul on Glenton Wolfe.
Althout short a player, Tigana added a spark to T&TEC five minutes inside the second period for a 2-1 score by beating goalkeeper Cleon John.
However one minute later Baptiste had the ball in the back of the T&TEC net on the other end, hitting past a scattered defense from the right for a 3-1 score.
T&TEC under re-installed Head Coach Dexter Cyrus in his first match back in the technical area produced a valiant second period and missed out on an item in the 56th minute when Stars defender Seon Power made an excellent clearance off the line to deny Glen Sutton.
And in the 68th minute North East Stars demonstrated yet another time, how finishing is done.
A short pass from Cornell Glen to Lewis was controlled well inside the area and curled past goalkeeper Adams for a 4-1 score.
Glen then notched his first of the night from the penalty spot in the 74th minute for a 5-1 comfort after Lewis was brought down just inside the area by substitute Adarryl John.
The ex-Trinidad and Tobago international then got to his double six minutes from time when he pounced on a slip-up in defense by T&TEC and buried a shot past Adams for a 6-1 score-line.
T&TEC didn’t bow out. Instead the ‘Electric Boys’ added one more for a 6-2 finish with substitute Brent Garcia beating goalkeeper John to the ball to find the back of the net. All courtesy Sylvester Teesdale’s break away on the right and perfectly placed cross behind the North East Stars’ defense.
Teesdale missed out on one himself in the 90th minute hitting a volley inches away from the far post.
North East Stars 6—2 T&TEC FC
Kaydion Gabriel 1’, 42’, Kerry Baptiste 51’ , Micah Lewis 68’, Cornell Glen 74’(pen), 84’ ; Tigana Sparks 50’, Daniel Garcia 87’
Caledonia AIA 3(5)—3(6) Stokely Vale
Kareem Joseph 48’(pen), Aubrey David 85’, Trayon Bobb 89’ ; Ian Thomas 20’, Rundell Winchester 29’, Travis Winchester 50’
(Stokely Vale won 6-5 on kicks from the penalty mark)
Teams
North East Stars—Cleon John, Seon Power (capt.), Kareem Moses, Glenton Wolfe, Kennedy Hinkson (Yellow Card), Keryn Navarro (Jeromie Williams 69th), Devon Jamerson (Jason Joseph 46th), Micah Lewis (Elijah Manners 74th), Kerry Baptiste, Cornell Glen.
Coach—Angus Eve.
T&TEC FC—Akini Adams, Keeron Benito (capt.), Anthony Noriega, Cebastian Bailey (Adarryl John 55th) (Yellow Card), Eustace Darius, Tigana Sparks (Daniel Garcia 77th), Kern Peters, Bevon Bass (Marc Hunte 46th), Brent Garcia, Sylvester Teesdale, Glen Sutton.
Coach—Dexter Cyrus.