3 weeks ago
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T&T Premier Football League Tier I’s AC Port-of-Spain (AC PoS) did their part in the quest to reach the semifinals of the Swiss-style Caribbean Football Union 24-team Club Shield with a 4-1 win over defending champions Arnett Gardens at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Mucurapo, Tuesday.
However, the reality that a team could win both their matches in their six-team group and still miss out on qualification to the semifinals was felt by the Walt Noreiga-coached T&T team, as despite ending with a maximum six points from their two matches in Group D, they were edged out for the top spot by Club Franciscain of Martinique, who edged Cayman Islands’ Scholars International 1-0 at the Ato Boldon Stadium, Couva, with a second-half strike for their second win in as many outings as well.
Both AC PoS, who defeated Scholars International 2-1 in their opener at the same venue on Sunday, and Club Franciscain, 6-1 winners over Anguilla’s Doc’s United FC, ended with a maximum of six points each, but the visitors finished with a better goal difference of plus-six to AC PoS’s plus-four.
At Mucurapo, AC PoS overcame some early pressure from Arnett Gardens to take the lead in the 24th minute when first-game hero Jaheim Mc Fee found an unmarked Shackiel Henry at the edge of the 18-yard box for a confident left-footed finish into the bottom left-hand corner of the goal, which they held until half-time.
Five minutes into the second half, AC PoS almost doubled their lead through an own goal from defender Shane Watson after some mix-up with goalkeeper Roje Williams as they failed to deal with a right-sided Haile Beckles cross.
However, nine minutes later, another Beckles right-sided cross had the Arnett Gardens defence in another tangle after Joshua Wilson and McFee failed to connect cleanly from less than six yards out, with defender Joel Jones eventually fumbling the ball over his own goal line.
Arnett Gardens then went in search of a goal to jump-start their revival, and in the 75th minute, Jamone Shepperd tried his luck with a left-footed attempt from an acute angle, which goalkeeper Marvin Phillip turned away.
A minute later, Phillip could do little, though, to prevent Jones from pulling one back for his team with an unstoppable blast from about 35 yards out.
But Arnett Gardens hopes were quickly dashed as, within the space of a minute, there was a fumble from goalkeeper Williams on another right-sided centre from Beckles, and it went straight to Henry for his second of the match before substitute Michael Chaves tapped into an open net after Beckles had done all the work on a counterattack in the 90th minute.
Also, at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Mucurapo, on Sunday, T&T’s Miscellaneous Police FC, who were stunned by Barbadian Weymouth Wales 3-1 on Sunday, ended their Group C campaign on a high, blasting SCSA Eagles of Sint Maarten 6-1.
T&T international Joevin Jones led the scoring for the Lawmen with a late pair of goals in the 73rd and nine minutes later from the penalty spot after Joshua Sitney (25th), Kadeem Hutchinson (32nd), Kareem Freitas (54th), and Mickaeel Gordon (63rd) had netted one each while Khalid Tavernier was on target for Eagles.
Wales topped the group to advance to the semifinals after hammering Wolves 8-0 at Couva to end with a maximum of six points, two clear of Suriname’s SV Transvaal and All Saints United of Antigua and Barbuda, who drew goalless in their match at Malabar.
The semifinals are on August 1, followed by the final and third-place playoff on August 3.
Final round-robin group standings
Group C
Weymouth Wales*2*2*0*0*11*1*3
Transvaal*2*1*1*0*3*0*4
All Saints Utd*2*1*1*0*3*1*4
Police FC*2*1*0*1*7*4*3
Eagles*2*0*0*2*2*9*0
Wolues*2*0*0*2*0*3*0
Group D
Club Franciscain*2*2*0*0*7*1*6
AC PoS*2*2*0*0*6*2*6
Arnett Gardens*2*1*0*1*5*4*3
Dublanc FC*2*1*0*1*2*5*3
Scholars Int’l*2*0*0*2*1*3*0
Doc’s Utd*2*0*0*2*2*8*0
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