D/Force, Caledonia draw goalless

Digicel T&T Pro League leader Defence Force remained on course for a record 21st national league title and second in three years after battling to a 0-0 draw with second place Neal & Massy Caledonia AIA. This was at the Marvin Lee Stadium in Macoya, Tunapuna, on Friday night. 

With four matches left to play for both clubs, the Teteron Boys, now have 37 points from 17 matches, four ahead of Caledonia while defending champion DirecTV W Connection is third with 29 points after trouncing St Ann’s Rangers 3-0 in the first match. 

Both Defence Force and Caledonia entered the match on the back of losses to fourth placed North East Stars and were eager for full points but in a very even contest, there was only once clear opening which fell to Defence Force substitute Richard “Shaka” Roy.

With the minutes ticking away, Roy collected a parried clearance by Caledonia goalkeeper Shemel Louision from a right-sided Corey Rivers’ cross. With Louision off his line, the burly Defence Force striker saw his low right-footed drive cleared at the first post by defender Kareem Joseph, to leave both teams with a share of the points, for an exciting run into their final four matches.

Defence Force faces Police, Central FC, T&TEC and W Connection in its upcoming matches while Caledonia comes up against, T&TEC, Police, Rangers and Central FC in that order.
In the night’s opening encounter, Soca Warriors winger Joevin Jones, scored one goal and made the other as W Connection kept its hopes of retaining its title alive with a 3-0 shut-out of St Ann’s Rangers.

The match was expected to be a heated affair with former W Connection goalkeeper and captain, Jan-Michael Williams making his Rangers’ debut following his axing by the Couva-based club, due to a bust-up with the Stuart Charles-Fevrier led technical staff in January. Both teams started cautiously but in the 20th minute Jones set up Clyde Leon to open the scoring for W Connection when he headed past his former team-mate and national captain Williams, who signed with Rangers on Tuesday.

W Connection then created chances for Suriname striker Stefano Rijssell and Jones to extend the lead but Rangers managed to survive. However, three minutes into the second half, Jones made it 2-0 when he picked up a loose ball in the 18-yard box after some sloppy work by the Rangers defence and curled his effort past Williams, off the bottom right post. 
Rangers then pushed forward in numbers, creating a few problems for W Connection through strikers Devon Modeste and Keifer Edwards but it also left holes at the back which Jones almost made full use of, by creating an opening for Leslie Joel Russell in the 73rd minute, however his header slammed onto the crossbar.

It was a short reprieved for Rangers and within two minutes, W Connection sealed all three points with Jones setting up Rijssell for an easy finish from less than six yards out.
Despite the match being beyond them, Rangers still managed to create a few chances, the best of which fell to Jamal Jack, who blasted overbar as the Savonetta Boys recorded a third win from as many league meetings over Rangers this season. W Connection will battle North East Stars, T&TEC, Police and Defence Force in its final four matches while the Sangre Grande-based Stars, which had a chance to reclaim third spot with victory over Police last night, meets Stars, Rangers, Central FC and T&TEC, respectively.

Results

W Connection 3 (Clyde Leon 20th, Joevin Jones 48th, Stefano Rijssel 75th) vs St Ann’s Rangers 0
Caledonia 0 vs Defence Force 0

Standings
Teams    P    W    D    L    F    A    Pts
D/Force    17    11    4    2    43    17    37
Caledonia    17    10    3    4    43    24    33
N/East Stars    16    7    6    3    22    14    27
W Connection    17    8    5    4    32    18    29
Central    16    6    5    5    23    26    23
Police    16    3    5    8    22    31    14
Rangers    17    2    4    11    19    43    10
T&TEC    16    2    2    12    12    43