Nigel Si­mon

Japan­ese mid­field­er Yu Hoshide was among the goals as bmo­bile Joe Pub­lic re­sumed its chase for the Dig­i­cel Pro League crown with a 3-1 win over Ma Pau on Sun­day night. This was in the first round of the "Big Six" com­pe­ti­tion at the Mar­vin Lee Sta­di­um, Ma­coya. With its heart-break­ing 1-0 loss to De­fence Force in the First Cit­i­zens Cup fi­nal two days ear­li­er at the same venue, the "East­ern Li­ons" showed lit­tle signs of a hang­over and coast­ed to vic­to­ry in an en­counter was de­cid­ed with­in an eight minute pe­ri­od late in the first-half.

Hoshide, signed by the "East­ern Li­ons" in Ju­ly t opened the scor­ing in the 35th minute with his first of the sea­son and three min­utes lat­er, fel­low mid­filder, Trent Noel dou­bled the lead. Ma Pau re­spond­ed with­in three min­utes with de­fend­er Dwane James beat­ing goal­keep­er Ale­jan­dro Figueroa to re­duced the deficit to 2-1,but with­in a blink of an eye, Joe Pub­lic's Ker­ry Bap­tiste sealed the is­sue with his 30th strike of the sea­son. The win car­ried Joe Pub­lic to the top of the Big Six ta­ble with three points, the same as W Con­nec­tion, which edged Cale­do­nia AIA of Mor­vant/Laven­tille 1-0 at the Ato Boldon Sta­di­um, Cou­va witha 49th minute Jonathan Fana Frias item.

With the points earned in the "Big Six" com­pe­ti­tion be­ing added to the reg­u­lar sea­son league points to de­ter­mine the over­all league win­ner, Joe Pub­lic now has 44 points from 21 match­es, four ahead of Ca­le­od­nia while Cli­co San Juan Jabloteh has 39. Fourth is W Con­nec­tion with 37 points fol­lowed by Ma Pau with 34, and De­fence Force, 30. The match be­tween new­ly crowned First Cit­i­zens Cup win­ner, De­fence Force and de­fend­ing "Big Six" win­ner Jabloteh was not played af­ter the lat­ter could not field a team due to most of its play­ers falling ill on re­turn home from Con­ca­caf Cham­pi­ons League du­ties against Tolu­ca in Mex­i­co. That match will now be played on Tues­day Oc­to­ber 20 while Jabloteh's match to­day against Joe Pub­lic set for Ma­coya has al­so been post­poned un­til Oc­to­ber 15.

To­day's match­es

W Con­nec­tion vs De­fence Force at Ato Boldon Sta­di­um, 6 pm

Cale­do­nia AIA vs Ma Pau at Mar­vin Lee Sta­di­um, 6 pm

Sun­day's Big Six re­sults

Joe Pub­lic 1 (Yu Hoshide 35th, Trent Noel 38th, Ker­ry Bap­tiste 41st) vs Ma Pau 1 (Dwane James 43rd).

W Con­nec­tion 1 (Jonathan Frias 49th) vs Cale­do­nia 0.