Kristien Emmanuel scored a hat-trick and fellow national player Daniel Byer scored twice to lead a youthful Malvern team to a 6-3 beating of titleholders Queen's Park Cricket Club in the T&T Hockey Board Indoor Championship Men's Open Division at the Woodbrook Youth Facility, Woodbrook on Sunday.
The Parkites ended with four points from their first two matches, took control of the encounter in the 13th minute through former national captain Darren Cowie, but four minutes later Byer drew Malvern level before Emmanuel put the latter ahead in the 22nd followed, only for Shawn Lee Quay to get a second for the Parkites to get back on even terms at 2-2 in the 23rd.
However, within four minutes Aidan Marcano restored Malvern's slim cushion at 3-2 followed by a strike from Emmanuel in the 36th to go 4-2 up.
The Parkites did not throw in the towel and got a lifeline when Lee Quay got his second of the contest in the 47th to close the gap to 3-4, but Malvern was not done yet either at the other end, with Byer scoring his second of the match in the 40th, and Emmanuel again with seconds of the restart to complete his hat-trick and condemn the Parkites to their first loss in three matches.
The win lifted Malvern to nine points from five matches, four behind unbeaten Defence Force who came from 0-1 down to crush Fatima 12-3 led by a seven-goal outburst from national defender Marcus James.
James got his goals in the third, fifth, sixth, eighth, 25th, 29th and 30th minutes while fellow national player Shaquille Daniel got two, and the trio of Dylan Francis, Javon Woodward, and Mickel Pierre one each.
For Fatima, who are without a point after three matches, Matthew Perreira scored twice, and Alexei Mohammed the other.
And in the other men's Open clash, Kelon Skerrit continued his rich vein of form for Paragon, scoring a treble in their 8-2 spanking of Shape for a third victory in four matches.
In the lone Women's Championship Division match, defending champions Venture was denied their first win in four matches in a 1-1 draw with Shandy Carib Magnolias.
This after Dominique Robinson's go-ahead item in the 24th minute was cancelled out by Elise Olton with three minutes left in the contest.
Despite dropping two points, Magnolias stayed top of the four-team table with ten points from four matches and two left to play, four more than Malvern who have three matches remaining while Paragon has three points from as many matches, and Ventures one from four.
RESULTS
Sunday
Men's Open
Paragon 8 (Kelon Skerrit 4th, 29th, 33rd, Daniel Mc Kie 10th, Kaleb Quashie 12th, Joel Daniel 23rd, Tariq Singh 31st, 37th) vs Shape 2 (Sheldon De Lisle 13th,
Defence Force 12 (Marcus James 3rd, 5th, 6th, 8th, 25th, 29th, 30th, Shaquille Daniel 23rd, 25th, Dylan Francis 11th, Javon Woodward 18th, Mickel Pierre 30th) vs Fatima 3 (A. Mohammed 4th, Matthew Perreira 23rd, 40th)
Malvern 6 (Daniel Byer 17th, 40th, Kristien Emmanuel 22nd, 36th, 40th, Aidan Marcano 27th) vs QPCC 3 (Darren Cowie 13th, Shawn Lee Quay 23rd, 37th)
Women's Open
SC Magnolias 1 (Elise Olton 37 ) vs Ventures 1 (Dominique Robinson 24th)
Mixed Veterans
Police 6 (Suzette Pierre 5th, Solomon Eccles 20th, 37th, Nicholas Wren 26th, 34th, Dwain Quan Chan 15th) vs QPCC 2 (Pedro Zandvliet 15th, Reiza Hosein 40th)
Trinity Men
Malvern 3 (Korry Barnett 28th, 33rd, Idi Akii Bua 23rd) vs Fatima 2 (Zechariah Gowsack 3rd, Kaleb Pinder 8th)
Trinity Women
Harvard Checkers 6 (Patrice Padmore 12th, 13th, Nia Cumberbatch 8th, Kecia Hosein 17th, Patrica Wright-Alexis 36th, Kwylan Eccles 39th) vs Notre Dame 3 (Nicole Whiteman 3)