Do­mini­ca Re­pub­lic club Atléti­co Pan­to­ja was crowned cham­pi­ons of the FLOW Con­ca­caf Caribbean Club Cham­pi­onship on Sun­day night, af­ter it de­feat­ed Ja­maica's Ar­nette Gar­dens 6-5 in a penal­ty shoot-out in the fi­nal at the An­tho­ny Spauld­ing Sports Com­plex in Kingston, Ja­maica.

How­ev­er, T&T's Cen­tral FC fin­ished bot­tom of the four-team stand­ing, hav­ing lost 1-2 to Port­more Unit­ed of Ja­maica in a third-place play-off at the same venue.

The Cen­tral 'Sharks', a two time win­ner of the crown, got the open­er in the 27th minute from Du­ane Muck­ette to lead its op­po­nents at the break, but Rosario Har­riott got the equal­iz­er for the home­team in the 59th minute, be­fore Jer­mie Lynch struck the win­ner four min­utes lat­er (63rd).

Cen­tral FC will now en­gage Con­ca­caf Caribbean Club Shield cham­pi­on Club Fran­cis­cain of Mar­tinique for the fi­nal Caribbean spot in the Con­ca­caf League to­mor­row (Wednes­day) at the same venue from 7pm.

In the fi­nal both teams were goal­less at the end of reg­u­la­tion time and went straight to the penal­ty mark.

In the penal­ty lot­tery, Jean Lopez, Nicholas Re­bol­lo, Ed­uar­do Cen­teno, Je­sus Quin­tero, Car­los Rus­sell and goal-keep­er Odalis Baez found the nets for Pan­to­ja. Ar­man­do Mai­ta missed the fifth kick for the vic­tors.

Per­fect from the 12-yard spot for Ar­nett were Lennox Rus­sell, New­ton Ster­ling, Al Nes­beth, Jabeur John­son and Jar­mar Mar­tin, while top strik­er Fabi­an Reid missed.

By virtue of the vic­to­ry, Pan­to­ja has earned au­to­mat­ic qual­i­fi­ca­tion to the pres­ti­gious Con­ca­caf Cham­pi­ons League, while Ar­nett will con­test the sec­ond tier Con­ca­caf League.