Teteron Boys look to widen Pro League lead

Defence Force will have revenge on its mind against Neal & Massy Caledonia AIA in a top-of-the-table Digicel T&T Pro League encounter at the Ato Boldon Stadium, Couva, from 8 pm tonight.

Two hours before, defending champions DirecTV W Connection will meet St Ann’s Rangers as it seeks to revive its title defence.

However, the feature clash will be the battle between the “Teteron Boys,” coached by Ross Russell, and the Jerry Moe-coached Caledonia, which came away with a 4-2 win in their first-round meeting in October, last year.

Tonight, Caledonia, which downed National Super League’s Stokely Vale 1-0 thanks to a Sheldon Holder goal in its T&T Football Federation FA quarterfinal on Wednesday, will have to cope without Jamal Gay, Radanfah Abu Bakr, Guerra, Nuru Abdullah Muhammad, Theobald, Smith, Guyanese Walter Moore and Trayon Bobb and St Vincent and the Grenadines’ Cornelius Stewart, all overseas, while defender Kemron Purcell has joined Police FC.

Moe will also be sweating on the fitness of captain Stephan David, striker Odelle Armstrong and new signing Elvis Thomas of St Vincent and the Grenadines, as he looks to gel them with national midfielder Keyon Edwards and his other newcomers, Qian Grosvenor, Vurlon Mills, Akeem Thomas (St Vincent and the Grenadines) and Sherron Joseph.

Team manager Ricarda Nelson also confirmed that the club was also awaiting the international transfer clearances for two other January signings, Argentina-born Canadian midfielder Miguel Alejandro and Brazilian midfielder Douglas Da Rocha Poroca. On the other hand, Defence Force led by the league’s top scorer Jorsling (eight goals), Josimar Belgrave (6), and Kevon Carter (4) will again rely on the trio in the absence of fellow frontman Richard “Shaka” Roy” who travelled with the Caledonia contingent to Europe.

Since the round one loss to Caledonia, 2010 champions Defence Force, 1-0 victors against North East Stars on Friday at the same venue, has now won six straight league matches, scoring 21 goals with three against. Led by versatile captain Corey Rivers, another victory could well be on the cards.

Two hours earlier, Connection, which has had an inconsistent season to be third on the table and nine points off the lead, faces an improving St Ann’s Rangers squad.

The “Savonetta Boys,” who may be without leading scorer Shahdon Winchester (due to overseas trials), have found themselves in the news for the wrong reasons in recent days with national goalkeeper and club captain Jan-Michael Williams and coach Stuart Charles-Fevrier being involved in an on-field spat at a training session.

Williams has been relieved of his starting role at the club while his chances of a move away will be on hold until the end of the season as the transfer window closed locally on Monday and his contract with the club concludes at the end of March.

Since the incident, W Connection has moved quickly to re-sign its former goalkeeper in Colombian Alejandro Figueroa who will now battle it out with Aquelius Sylvester and Brazilian Murilo Da Costa for the staring role. 

Figueroa comes in with a lot of experience and title-winning class. 

He was one of the most valuable acquisitions by Joe Public between 2006-2009, winning a historic five titles with the Lions before joining Ma Pau SC for the 2010-2011 followed by a premature exit and his return to Colombia. 

Rangers, which saw the trio of striker Hector Sam, defender Elijah Belgrave and midfielder Christon Thomas moving away from the club during the transfer window along with team administrator Adrian Romain and physiotherapist Oswin Birchwood to Central FC, responded with a 1-0 win over T&TEC via a Devon Modeste strike to climb to sixth on the table.

In addition, Rangers co-owner Richard Fakoory snapped up six Joe Public players last week giving hope to Pacheco and assistant coach Jason Spence.

The signees included Kerron Reid, Devon King, Dominic Hutchinson, Alfie James and brothers Muhammad and Musa Nakid while physiotherapist Sheldon Scipio has also made the switch from Joe Public.

Tomorrow, another double-header is scheduled for Couva with Police meeting Stars from 5 pm followed by T&TEC against Central FC two hours later.

Fixtures Today  

Venue: Ato Boldon 
Stadium, Couva
W Connection vs St Ann’s Rangers, 6 pm
Defence Force vs Caledonia, 8 pm

Tomorrow  
Venue: Ato Boldon Stadium, Couva:
Police vs North East Stars, 
5 pm
T&TEC vs Central FC, 7 pm

Standings

Teams    P    W    D    L    F    A    Pts
Defence Force    9    7    1    1    28    11    22
Caledonia    8    5    2    1    23    9    17
W Connection    8    3    4    1    15    8    13
N/East Stars    8    2    4    2    10    9    10
Police    9    2    4    3    9    11    10
Rangers    8    2    2    4    12    21    8
Central FC    7    2    1    4    7    15    7
T&TEC    9    1    0    8    6    26    3​