MALONEY Eagles (13 points) made a big statement in the Eastern Football Association (EFA) league season on Sunday, as they got a thumping 7-2 win over Heatwave FC (12 points) to move to the top of the ten-team table with four games to go.
Heatwave, who slipped to third-place after Sunday’s duel with Maloney at the Maloney Recreation Ground, came into match day five on the back of four straight wins and held a two-point lead atop the standings. Heatwave were in for a rude awakening in the first half hour though, as Maloney jumped out to a 5-1 lead with former TT international forward Nathan Lewis bagging a double – taking his league tally to five goals.
Heatwave scored just before the half to reduce the deficit to 5-2, but the hosts cooled off any Heatwave threat in the second half as Teryke Johnson completed a double of his own to join his teammate Lewis on five league goals.
In Malabar, the host team Malabar Young Stars (12 points) were in rampant goal-scoring form of their own, as they hammered Zebulun FC 7-1 to move up to second spot. Leading 2-0 at the half, Malabar Young Stars showed no mercy in the second half as they scored a whopping five goals in a 17-minute span to put the cellar-placed Zebulun to the sword.
Terrell Neptune scored a quickfire hat-trick in the space of ten second-half minutes to propel his team to the big victory. Malabar Young Stars have a +15 goal difference, compared to Heatwave’s +7 goal differential. On October 22, Heatwave and Malabar Young Stars will meet in a tantalising clash as they look to cement their spots in the top three.
At the Eddie Hart Ground in Tacarigua, the league’s leading goal-scorer, Jiron Francis, took his tally in the EFA season to eight goals as he scored twice to salvage a 3-3 draw for Trincity Nationals (seven points) against Malabar FC (four points).
At Squadron Grounds in Trincity, Lejean Lezama and Samuel Ellis were among the scorers as the fourth-placed CG Poseidon moved up to ten points with a handsome 4-0 win over SKHY FC.
Meanwhile, Creek SC (nine points) leapfrogged Trincity on the table and moved up to fifth with a 2-1 victory over United Coaching Academy. The winner of the EFA competition will receive a $25,000 prize. The second-placed team will receive $15,000 and the third-placed team will pocket $10,000.