Substitute Michael Edwards scored a second-half brace as Digicel T&T Pro League champion, Defence Force made a giant step towards reaching the Caribbean Football Union Club Championship semifinal round next month, with a 4-0 away win to Guyana's Milerock on Sunday night. This was in their second round first-leg match at the Mac Kenzie Sports Club Ground, Linden. The comfortable away win puts the Ross Russell coached Defence Force in the driver's seat to cement a semifinal spot as it only needs a draw or avoid defeat by a five-goal margin in the return-leg on April 22 at the Ato Boldon Stadium, Couva, to advance.
Going into the contest, the "Teteron Boys" who advanced to the second round after they completed a 4-1 aggregate win over Bermudans, Dandy Town Hornets (3-0 win at home and 1-1 away draw) had stated their intentions to play for a win against the host. And eight minutes into the contest, winger Kerry Joseph provided the perfect platform for a first-leg advantage when he put the visitors ahead. But Russell and his team would then suffer a slight set-back in the 20th minute when left back Akile Edwards had to be replaced by Rodell Elcock due to an injury. The change did little to deter Defence Force as striker, Richard "Shaka" Roy doubled the lead in the 31st minute for Defence Force, CFU Club champions in 1985 and 1987 to go into the interval, 2-0 ahead.
On the resumption, Milerock which placed second in the Guyana Super League and earned a surprised 2-1 win on the road to Suriname's Inter Moengotapoe for a 2-2 tie on aggregate to advance had a mountain to climb against the confident visitors. And it went from bad to worse as Edwards who was introduced for Owen Mathews in the 51st minute extended the lead to 3-0 on the hour mark before he added another for a 4-0 scoreline, seven minutes later. It was the second straight CFU match Edwards had scored a double as he also netted twice in the 3-0 win over Hornets at the Mannie Ramjohn Stadium, Marabella in the previous round.
With the away victory, the "Teteron Boys" , 1985 Concacaf Champions League winner will no doubt fancy their chances of a last four spot in T&T from May 25 with the final and third-place games set for four days later. The semifinal winners and third placed club will qualify for the 2011-2012 Concacaf Champions League. The other T&T club in the tournament, Caledonia AIA will meet Tempete of Haiti in its second-round first-leg match on April 22, with the return set for May 7 in Haiti.
CFU Club Championship
Second Round First-Leg
Defence Force (T&T) 4 (Kerry Joseph 8th, Richard Roy 31st, Michael Edwards 60th, 67th) vs Milerock (Guy) 0
Remaining fixtures:
(Home teams listed first)
Second Round
First Leg:
Tuesday April 15:
Alpha Utd (Guyana) vs River Plate (P/Rico), 6.30 pm
Friday April 22:
Caledonia (T&T) vs Tempete (Haiti), 6.30 pm
Saturday April 23:
P/Rico Islanders vs Walking Boyz, 7.30 pm
Second-Leg:
April 17:
River Plate vs Alpha, 6.30 pm
April 22:
Defence Force vs Milerock, 4.30 pm
May 7:
Tempete vs Caledonia, 6.30 pm
Walking Boyz vs P/Rico Islanders, 7 pm
