Marcus "Lobo" Joseph scored a pair of goals to lead W Connection to a comfortable 4-1 defeat of San Juan Jabloteh in their top-of-the-table T&T Pro League clash at the Ato Boldon Stadium, Couva on Tuesday night.
The win lifted five-time champion W Connection to 22 points from eight matches, six ahead of three-time winners Central FC which edged another past winner Defence Force in the second match at Couva.
Joseph, the leading "Golden Boot" contender, scored his 10th and 11th league goals of the season while wingers, Jomal Williams and Neil Benjamin Jr added one each to see off Jabloteh, a four-time league champion.
Recently recalled to the T&T senior men's team, Joseph put W Connection ahead on 24 minutes by taking advantage of a slip-up by Elijah Manners and Nical Stephens to fire past goalkeeper Christopher Biggette.
Ten minutes later, Williams made it 2-0 to the "Savonetta Boys" while defender Triston Hodge came close to making it 3-0 when he rattled the Jabloteh crossbar.
On the resumption, Jabloteh needed to strike first and that they did when Jomoul Francois halved the deficit ten minutes in with his sixth league goal.
However, Joseph was not then scoring and in the 67th minute he slotted in his 18th goal in all competitions this season by rounding Biggette after some clever build-up play between Williams and Kadeem Corbin and in stoppage time Benjamin, announced his "Savonetta Boys'" return with a goal to his name after coming on as a substitute.
The loss left the door open for Defence Force or Central FC, both with 13 points to climb to second on the table ahead of Jabloteh (14) when they faced off in the second match, and for the second time this season it was the Couva Sharks, coming away with the victory, 1-0, thanks to a Duane Muckette strike in the second minute of time added at the end of the first half.
Down at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Mucurapo, Morvant Caledonia snapped the four-match winning streak of Police FC after both teams battled to a 1-1 draw.
The Lawmen had taken a 15th-minute lead through Kareem Perry but four minutes later Aikim Andrews levelled for Morvant Caledonia with his first goal since joining the “Eastern Stallions” in August.
Elsewhere, Pt Fortin Civic celebrated their first league win of the campaign after eight attempts with a 4-1 come-from-behind win over holders North East Stars.
The table-propping North East Stars were ahead early when Adrian Noel silenced the home supporters after 16 minutes. But Civic, thanks to a double from Judah Garcia (53rd & 76th) and one each from his brother Nathaniel Garcia (65th) and Akinola Gregory (72nd), earned themselves a confidence booster ahead of Saturday’s trip to the Ato Boldon Stadium against Defence Force from 6 pm.
Club Sando will host Morvant Caledonia from 8 pm in the second game at the Couva venue on Saturday, while North East Stars face arguably their biggest challenge against Connection when they host the undefeated "Savonetta Boys" from 4 pm at the Larry Gomes Stadium.
The weekend excitement kicks off with a double-header at the Hasely Crawford Stadium on Friday with Rangers against Jabloteh from 6 pm and Police taking on Central from 8 pm.