Jerrel Britto and Jason Marcano scored a goal each in extratime as two-time winner, San Juan Jabloteh continued its perfect T&T Football Federation FA Trophy competition record against bmobile Joe Public with a 2-0 win in its round-of-16 meeting on Friday night. This was after both teams battled to a 0-0 draw in the 90 minutes of regulation time in the feature match of a re-scheduled double-header at the Marvin Lee Stadium, Macoya. Seconds into extratime, national Under-20 striker Britto, a 67th minute replacement for Willis Plaza, gave Jabloteh a 1-0 advantage. He was well positioned to tap into an open net after he was picked out by another substitute, Hector Sam from the left.
Tournament winner in 1998 and 2005, Jabloteh doubled its lead two minutes later when Joe Public's Jevon Morris was adjudged to have fouled Marcano inside the area by referee Nigel Roberts. The Jabloteh striker picked himself off the astroturf before he comfortably slotted the ball into the right corner sending national goalkeeper Marvin Phillip the wrong way. The San Juan Kings' victory was marred though by the sending off of defender Jamal Jack in the 110th minute.
Jack was shown the red card after he sacrificed himself with a late tackle on Andre Toussaint just outside the 18-yard area as the Joe Public marksman weaved his way towards goal. In the end, Jabloteh proved a more determined bunch on the night as it sent Joe Public, winners in 2001, 2004, 2007 and last year, stumbling out of the most prestigious tournament in local football. Jabloteh also defeated Joe Public in its two previous FA Trophy meetings, 1-0 in the 1998 final followed by a similar 1-0 win in the 2006 quarterfinal round. Jabloteh will now meet Southern Football Association's La Brea All Stars in Friday's quarterfinal.
Caledonia slips past Defence Force
In the night's opening match, Caledonia needed extra-time to dispose of Defence Force Super League squad 2-1. After a dull first 45 minutes, Caledonia broke the deadlock two minutes into the second-half when striker Conrod Smith side-footed Kareem Joseph's cross from the right, clipping the underside of goalkeeper Kerwin Beckles' crossbar. Defence Force forced the match into extratime, when he levelled the score at 1-1 on the stroke of fulltime through a free kick by substitute and national Futsal player Sterling O'Brian from 22-yards out.
It was not until the 111th minute, that Caledonia was gifted a free kick inside the area for parrying by goalkeeper Kerwin Beckles, did the winner come. Ryan Stewart played the ball short to defender Ishmael Daniel, whose curling left-footed shot lodged inside the far upright. Caledonia's victory set up a quarterfinal date with Joe Public's Super League squad on Friday. In the two other quarterfinal matches, Ma Pau faces 2003 winner, DirecTV North East Stars in an all-Pro League clash while Digicel T&T Pro League leader and six-time FA champion (1974, 1981, 1985, 1989, 1991 & 1996) Defence Force faces St Ann's Rangers.
Quarterfinals:
Friday December 10:
Ma Pau (Pro) vs North East Stars (Pro)
Caledonia (Pro) vs Joe Public (Super)
St Ann's Rangers (Pro) vs Defence Force (Pro)
La Brea All Stars (SFA) vs Jabloteh (Pro)
Friday's T&TFF FA Trophy round-of-16 results:
Caledonia 2 (Conrod Smith 47th, Ishmael Daniel 111th) vs Defence Force (Super) 1 (Sterling O'Brien 90th).
Jabloteh (Jerrel Britto 91st, Jason Marcano 93rd pen) vs Joe Public 0