Pro League ‘top four’ battle at Mucurapo

Top spot in the Digicel T&T Pro League will be up for grabs when leaders Defence Force and second-placed Neal & Massy Caledonia AIA come up against North East Stars and defending champion DirecTV W Connection at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Mucurapo, from 6 pm.

In the night’s opener, Defence Force, coming off an 8-0 pounding of St Ann’s Rangers to lead the eight-team table with 19 points, will face fourth-placed Stars (ten points) which rebounded from its first league loss 1-0 to Caledonia with a 4-2 penalty-kicks win over Cunupia FC in the T&T Football Federation FA trophy quarterfinal on Wednesday.

For tonight’s match, Defence Force will be without national striker Richard Roy who left earlier this week for trials in Turkey alongside Caledonia’s T&T internationals Jamal Gay, Radanfah Abu Bakr, Ataulla Guerra, Nuru Abdullah Muhammad and Densil Theobald, as well as Guyanese duo, Walter Moore and Trayon Bobb.

Midfielder Conrod Smith is also out on trials in the USA along with Rangers’ Dwane James, while Stars’ could be without its national defender Seon Power who is set for trials in Thailand.

When both teams met in the first round, Stars stormed into a 3-0 lead only for Josimar Belgrave to earn Defence Force a share of the points with a second-half hat-trick.

Two hours later, second-placed Caledonia AIA, which is three points behind Defence Force and had its FA quarterfinal against National Super League’s Stokely Vale postponed due to a no-show by officials, faces a tough battle against W Connection, 3-0 victors over Central FC in its last league outing.

In their first league meeting, Caledonia and W Connection battled to a 1-1 draw.

Tomorrow, a double-header is also scheduled for the Mannie Ramjohn Stadium, Marabella, from 5 pm, with T&TEC facing St Ann’s Rangers followed by Police against Central FC, which will have to do without utility player and club vice-captain Anthony Wolfe who has gone on trial in Singapore.

Today’s Digicel T&T Pro League matches

Venue: Hasely Crawford Stadium, Mucurapo
 North East Stars vs Defence Force, 6pm
 Caledonia vs W Connection, 8pm

Tomorrow:
Venue: Mannie Ramjohn Stadium, Marabella
 T&TEC vs Rangers, 5pm
 Police vs Central FC, 7pm

SCORES
Digicel T&T Pro League standings:
Teams    P    W    D    L    F    A    Pts
Defence Force    8    6    1    1    27    11    19
Caledonia    7    5    1    1    23    9    16
W Connection    7    3    3    1    15    8    12
N/East Stars    7    2    4    1    10    8    10
Police    8    2    3    3    9    11    9
Central FC    6    2    0    4    7    17    6
Rangers    7    1    2    4    11    21    5
T&TEC    8    1    0    7    6    25    3

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