Kevon Carter scored a hat-trick as he and his Defence Force team-mates made up for a disappointing first-half to hammer T&TEC 5-0 in their Digicel Pro Bowl quarterfinal at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Mucurapo on Friday.Joining the defending champions Defence Force in Friday's semifinal were North East Stars, two-time winner DirecTV W Connection and league debutants, Central FC.
Prior to his team's kick off of its title defence, coach Ross Russell said his Defence Force squad, recently crowned league champions for a second time in three years would be coming out to put on a show.However, during the first 45 minutes, Russell was left a frustrated man and Carter, Richard "Shaka" Roy and Jerwyn "Bally" Balthazar all wasted numerous chances against a T&TEC side that provided little punch up front.
The Army/Coast-Guard combination finally broke the deadlock from an unlikely source in the 63rd minute when defender Rodell Elcock headed into an open goal after goalkeeper Akini Adams failed to collect a right sided Corey Rivers corner.Five minutes later Carter made amends for his earlier misses when he tapped home at the far post froma left sided Aklie Edwards centre and in the 70th minute he extended the advantage to 3-0 by starting and finishing off a next exchange of passes at the top of the T&TEC penalty-area by firing through the legs of Adams.
Any hopes of a T&TEC comeback was dashed in the 78th minute when Ross Russell Jr, a former national youth player and son of the coach Ross Russell unleashed a powerful left footer than found the bottom right hand corner of Adams' goal, after an intended pass to substitute Devorn Jorsling from Carter fell in his path.With seven minutes left in the contest, Carter completed his hat-trick with another close range tap-in, this time froma right sided centre by Kerry "Crampy" Joseph.At the other end of the field, T&TEC's youthful duo of Shackiel Henry and Nathaniel Garcia along with the experienced Simeon Augustus were starved of any real efforts on goal.
In fact, T&TEC's only real shot on goal came in the 83rd minute through Antuan John from a pass by substitute Anthony Noriega, but it was patted down by goalkeeper Kevin ""Barthez" Graham to preserve a clean sheet as his team stormed into the semifinal where it faces W Connection on Friday at the Marvin Lee Stadium, Macoya.The second match at Mucurapo was a much more even affair, with both Rangers and Stars enjoyed some ball possession. But as the match progressed Stars began to dominate and took a 1-0 lead in the 27th when the nippy Kennedy Hinkson collected a pass at the top right hand corner of the box, wrong footed his marker and curled a right footed shot past the outstretched hands of goalkeeper Jan-Michael Williams.
Stars took a 2-0 lead on the stroke of half-time, through midfielder Marcus Gomez, beating Williams low on his near post while Kareem Moses added the third, two minutes into the second-half to set up a semis clash with Central FC.Down at Ato Boldon Stadium, Couva, ay 24 May at the Marvin Lee Stadium, Macoya, W Connection in search of its third Pro Bowl title after being victorious in 2004 and 2007 got off to a perfect start when Andrei Pacheco blasted in a ninth penalty strike past goalkeeper Glenroy Samuel for an early 1-0 advantage.This after Samuel upended Hashim Arcia inside the area and was whistled by referee Gyasi Mc Donald for the infringement, and cautioned as well in the process.
Caledonia had two chances to get even, through striker Akim Armstrong in the 25th minute, and a minute later, defender Aubrey David, but both players missed the target. The Morvant/Laventille club was made to rue those chances as four minutes after the restart W Connection doubled its lead to 2-0 when goalkeeper, Samuel charged down a left footed free-kick from Pacheco, which fell to Neil Benjamin Jr, for an easy finish.Eight minutes later, Caledonia, beaten 5-2 in last year's final by Defence Force got back into the contest when defender Aubrey David was first to react to a free-kick from Densill Theobald which crashed off the upright, and pounced on the loose ball tom fire past goalkeeper Alejandro Figueroa.
However, that was as close as Caledonia would get as Hashim Arcia collected a pass from Pacheco before firing past Samuel and into the far corner off the upright for a 3-1 scoreline in the 79th.
Pacheco who had one of his better outings on the night almost added a fourth in the second minute added-on time, but he blasted over the bar from the edge of the six yard box while his team-mate, Colombian Christian Viveros took the gloss off his team's comfortable win by picking up a straight red card for an off the ball altercation with Caledonia's Nathan Lewis.The winners of Friday's semifinal will clash on Wednesday May 29 at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Mucurapo for the winner-take-all $100,000 prize which will be increased by a percentage of the gate receipts, as well as a new trophy up for grabs.
There are also individual awards for the "Top Scorer", "Most Valuable Player" and "Most Outstanding Coach" of $2,000, $2,000 and $3,000 respectively.
Results
Venue: Hasely Crawford Stadium, Mucurapo
n Defence Force 5 (Rodell Elcock 63rd, Kevon Carter 68th, 70th, 83rd, Ross Russell Jr 78th) vs T&TEC 0
n North East Stars 3 (Kennedy Hinkson 27th, Marcus Gomez 45th, Kareem Moses 47th) vs St Ann's Rangers 0
Venue: Ato Boldon Stadium, Couva
n Central FC 1 (Peter Byers 61st) vs Police 0
n W Connection 3 (Andrei Pacheco 9th pen, Neil Benjamin 49th, Hashim Arcia 79th) vs Caledonia AIA 1 (Aubrey David 52nd)
Remaining fixtures
May 24
Semifinals
n Venue: Marvin Lee Stadium, Macoya
n North East Stars vs Police = M
n Defence Force vs W Connection = N
Final
May 29
n Venue: Hasely Crawford Stadium, Mucurapo, 8 pm.
