Two second-half goals from the boot of Raheem Edwards (50th minute) and Chevaughn Walsh in the 89th crushed all chances Central FC had of advancing out of Group A of the Concacaf Caribbean Cup when they went down 2-0 to the Jamaican team Mount Pleasant FC at the Hasely Crawford Stadium in Mucurapo on Tuesday night.
The win assured the Jamaicans a semifinal berth in the tournament, while the Shaks were left licking their wounds.
Entering the match with one loss, a win, and a draw, the Central Sharks, which had struggled in the past to advance beyond the group stage of the regional tournament, needed to win the encounter to have a chance of progressing out of the group. However, they found themselves in an early hole, as their Jamaicans took control of the match, forcing them to chase for almost the entire first half.
Despite playing away, the visitors dominated from the start and could have taken the lead as early as the third minute, as Edwards took the Central defence for a run down the right side, only for his shot to be pushed wide by Jabari Bryce in the Central FC goal.
The Central men looked like a shadow of the team that defeated Dominican Republic’s Moca FC 2-0 at the same venue last week for their first victory. And against the Jamaicans, they found themselves defending stoutly for long periods. Leading 1-0, Shaquille Bradford was the architect of a second opportunity that went abegging.
In the 30th minute, Bradford took the ball down the left side before he connected with Edwards via a long pass. Edwards’ snapshot was touched by Brice, but it didn’t stop the ball from angling towards the goal. It took an acrobatic attempt by defender Ross Russell Jr to clear the ball off the goal line and preserve a goalless scoreline before the halftime interval.
Coach Julius Edwards of Central FC had his work cut out for him, facing a well-experienced Theodore Whitmore in charge of Mount Pleasant. But as it was in the beginning, so it was in the end, with no real change to ease Edward’s concerns when the teams returned to the pitch.
In fact, the Jamaicans doubled their efforts in search of the opening goal, and they almost got it in the 46th minute. Alex Marshall was picked out wide open in the Central penalty area from another sweeping Mount Pleasant attack, but his low shot at goal was somehow pushed agonisingly wide.
But the home team could do nothing when Bradford slipped the ball through an opened Central defence for Edwards to take a controlling touch before drilling the ball low and hard past Brice for the 1-0 lead in the 50th minute.
Still, the goal could not wake the T&T Premier Football League campaigners up, despite their need to win the match. Instead, the Jamaicans mounted more attacks at their goal, and it was only because of the brilliance of Brice in goal that stinging attempts from Chevaughn Walsh and Daniel Green didn’t go in.
Central FC’s lone attempt came when Isaiah Lee wormed his way past his marker, only for his powerful low shot to be parried wide by goalkeeper Tafari Chambers in the 78th minute. Eleven minutes later, Walsh put the exclamation mark on the game after a thumping shot from Angelo Exilus was parried into the path of Walsh to tap into an open goal in the 89th minute.
Central FC has now finished on four points from as many goals, while the result pushed Mount Pleasant to the top of the five-team standings with nine points.
RESULTS
Central FC- 0 vs Mount Pleasant FC- 2 (Raheem Edwards 50th, Chevaughn Walsh 89th)
