Ma Pau beats Army 1-0

Rennie Britto’s 80th minute penalty secured a 1-0 win for Ma Pau over slumping Digicel Pro League leaders’ Defence Force in the feature match of a double-header at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Mucurapo on Friday night. The “Teteron Boys” lead at the top of the ten-team table could be reduced to six points before the Christmas Holiday break which starts tomorrow. Defence Force remain winless in its last three matches, which includes two consecutive defeats after starting the league campaign, with nine straight wins. On Friday, Defence Force had only itself to blame for the loss after squandering a number of first-half chances. This was coupled by some acrobatic saves from Ma Pau Colombian goalkeeper, Alejandro Figueroa who kept his team in the match early on. But with ten minutes left in the match, Defence Force which was under some sustained pressure handed the “Casino Boys” a chance to go ahead after some clumsy defending by Devin Jordan.

Jordan, who had a made a number of wild tackles earlier swiped down at Britto in the 18-yard in full view of referee Gordon Maloney, who quickly pointed to the penalty-spot. The Ma Pau midfielder, then fired into the bottom right corner of the goal, sending goalkeeper Kevin Graham the wrong way for the 1-0 lead which it held until the whistle. Despite the loss, Defence Force still leads the table  with 31 points from 13 matches, but that lead was expected to be trimmed to six points when second placed defending champion, bmobile Joe Public (22 points) faced off with FC South End at the Marvin Lee Stadium, Macoya last night. Ma Pau climbed into second spot one point ahead of Joe Public while Caledonia AIA which tackled DirecTV North East Stars in last night’s other match is a further point behind.

In Friday’s other match, Jabloteh hammered Police 4-0 with a goal each from Hector Sam, Jamal Jack and Cyrano Glen while Police striker and captain, Noel Williams added an own goal. The win was the second in a row for Jabloteh, now with 19 points. Tomorrow, W Connection and St Ann’s Rangers will meet in the final league match before the break for the three-week Christmas Holidays. The League will resume on January 7 with a double-header at Mucurapo.

Friday’s Results
Jabloteh 4 (Hector Sam 7th, Noel Williams o.g 32nd, Jamal Jack 85th, Cyrano Glen 86th) vs Police 0
Ma Pau 1 (Rennie Britto 80th pen) vs Defence Force 0.

Tomorrow
W Connection vs Rangers, Ato Boldon Stadium, Couva, 6 pm

Current Pro League Standings

Teams    P    W    D    L    F    A    Pts
D/Force    13    10    1    2    28    11    31
Ma Pau    13    6    5    2    17    9    23
Joe Public    12    6    4    2    20    15    22
Caledonia    12    6    3    3    19    11    21
W Connection    12    5    4    3    17    9    19
NE Stars    12    5    4    3    22    17    19
Jabloteh    13    5    4    4    18    10    19
Rangers    12    2    3    7    11    23    9
Police    13    1    2    10    14    42    5
South End    12    1    0    11    8    27    3