Defence Force may well provide league debutants Central FC with part of its prize money for capturing the 2012/2013 Digicel T&T Pro League, its second in three seasons, as a show of appreciation for their role in the triumph.
This after the "Teteron Boys" were hammered in their penultimate league match of the campaign by last year's winner' DirecTV W Connection 4-0 at the Ato Boldon Stadium, Couva on Monday night, only for Central FC to put an end to Neal & Massy Caledonia AIA's chances with a 2-1 victory in the second match, which the latter needed to win or at least take a point to end the title chase to Friday's last round of matches.
Instead with the loss, Defence Force remained on 43 points from 20 matches, four ahead of Caledonia with one match left to play while W Connection improved to 35, the same as North East Stars followed by Central with 30.
Going into Monday's encounter, the Ross Russell-coached Defence Force unit which has beaten W Connection, 5-1 and 2-1 in their previous two league meetings this season, had high hopes of claiming the title in style.
However, while Russell and his men did managed to claim record 21st national league title, they did so in very unconvincing fashion, mainly due to the potent finishing of 18-year-old national youth team striker Neil Benjamin Jr.
Despite its previous outcomes against Defence Force, W Connection entered the match high on confidence, having captured the Lucozade Sport Goal Shield on Friday, 5-4 on penalties after a 0-0 draw against Stars, to follow up on its qualification into the 2013/2014 Concacaf Champions' League, three days earlier.
At the end of the first-half both teams were still locked at 0-0, but within 14 minutes of the res-start Benjamin fired W Connection ahead with a clever chip over the advancing Defence Force goalkeeper Kevin Graham following a pass by striker partner and fellow teenager Tremain Shayn Paul.
Seven minutes later Benjamin made it 2-0 when he capitalised on a mix-up in the "Teteron Boys" defence between defender Russ Russell Jr and Graham to tap into an empty goal.
Already faced with a difficult task of getting back into match, Defence Force then had Corey Rivers sent off referee Neil Brizan for a hard tackle on Suriname's Stefano Rijssel in the 75th minute and within two minutes the W Connection made its man advantage count when .
Rijssel raced down the left and cross for Benjamin to score at the far post to complete his hat-trick before substitute Alvin Jones, the brother of national midfielder Joevin Jones, also of W Connection added a fourth item.
Caledonia then had a golden chance to trim the lead at the top of the table to one point with a victory over Central FC, but like Defence Force, it found itself behind, with Rundell Winchester, returning from a lengthy layoff due to injury, scoring in the 28th minute as the league newcomers went after a second win in three league meetings against its opponents.
Four minutes later Caledonia got back on level terms through national striker Jamal Gay, but in the second-half they failed to up their game
with Nathan Lewis firing wide from close ranger.
With seven minutes left in the match, Winchester struck a second for Central to regain the lead at 2-1, but Caledonia did not drop its heads and pressed for an equaliser, which substitute Vurlon Mills, muffed in injury time, with the goal at his mercy top dash their title hopes.
Up at the Marvin Lee Stadium, Macoya, Stars gotlate second-half goals from Elijah Manners, Jean-Luc Rochford, Marcus Gomez, Micah Lewis and Kareem Moses in a 5-0 drubbing of T&TEC while St Ann's Rangers and Police drew 1-1.
Current Digicel T&T Pro League standings
Teams P W D L F A Pts
Defence Force 20 13 4 3 48 21 43
Caledonia 20 12 3 5 50 27 39
W Connection 20 10 5 6 40 19 35
North East Stars 20 9 8 3 31 17 35
Central FC 20 8 6 6 31 31 30
Police 20 3 7 10 25 38 16
Rangers 20 2 7 11 22 46 13
T&TEC 20 2 2 16 13 61 8
Monday's results
W Connection 4 (Neil Benjamin 59th, 66th, 77th, Alvin Jones 84th) vs Defence Force 0
Central FC 2 (Rondell Winchester 28th, 63rd) vs Caledonia 1 (Jamal Gay 32nd)
North East Stars 5 (Elijah Manners 79th, Jean-Luc Rochford 82nd, Marcus Gomez 87th, Micah Lewis 88th, Kareem Moses 90th) vs T&TEC 0
St Ann's Rangers 1 (Ryan O'Neil 71st) vs Police 1 (Todd Ryan 62nd)
REMAINING MATCHES
MAY 10
Venue: Ato Boldon Stadium, Couva:
Police vs W Connection, 6 pm
Caledonia vs Rangers, 8 pm
Venue: Marvin Lee Stadium, Macoya:
North East Stars vs Central FC, 6 pm
Defence Force vs T&TEC, 8 pm