STOKELY VALE held Earlbrokes, struggling leaders of the Digicel Premier Division of the Tobago Football Association, to a goalless draw last Tuesday at Goodwood.
The win moved them into fifth place on goal difference over Charlotteville Unifiers, while the leaders cling to a shaky three-point advantage over Hills United among the 12 clubs hunting for end-of-season spoils.
Slow-starting Unifiers broke into the top five with a 1-1 draw against neighbours and FA Cup winners Roxborough Lakers, who dropped to ninth. Former champions Stokely Vale and Unifiers have 15 points from eight and nine games, respectively.
Hills United (18 points) missed out on a great opportunity to draw level with Earlbrokes at the top when they were beaten 2-1 by St Clair Coaching School at the Dwight Yorke Stadium (DYS) in Bacolet on Wednesday night.
Defending champions Georgia United made full use of home advantage to improve their position with win number two in as many games, following a 4-1 whipping of Federal Northside FC at the River Bank Oval in Mt St George.
Jhevon Jackson, Clint Collette, Marvin Phillips and Delano Davis struck for the champions (13 points), who moved from ninth to seventh in the standings.
Dane James netted for Northside, who remained rooted to the foot of the table.
Earlbrokes completed the round out front with 21 points, despite their recent poor run of three draws and two losses in five outings. They can finish no worse than second at the conclusion of this round.
Stokely Vale (15 points) are the only ones who can displace them at the top as if they win their remaining three outings they will get to 24 points.
Ice-cold Earlbrokes have gathered two points from a handful of games, while scoring just two goals and conceding nine. Their recent slump came after they had started the season with six straight wins, while scoring 20 and letting in seven.
Former champions St Clair Coaching School jumped into third from sixth spot on the back of their narrow 2-1 triumph over second-placed Hills United.
Kion Samuel and Donnell Grant hit the target for Coaching School, while Kendel Joefield converted for Hills. They finished in second place with 18 points at the completion of their first round fixtures.
In other results, Castara Retreats Goal City and Mason Hall USSS shared the points in a 3-3 stalemate and Bethel United stopped Sidey's FC 2-1 at Speyside on Wednesday.