WHILE it was never likely to be a goal-feast, by their standards Neal & Massy Caledonia AIA and Joe Public produced little excitement as they played out a hard-fought T&T Pro League East Derby before a good crowd at the Marvin Lee Stadium on Saturday night.
Known for close results, the East Derby was once again tight, and was decided on a late-free kick goal from Sheldon Emmanuel which gave Caledonia AIA an 84th minute winner.
The Morvant-based 'Eastern Stallions' have now scored two goals this season and picked up a maximum six points with them, after edging Defence Force by a similar 1-0 margin in the opening round.
They are now second on goal-difference to CL Financial San Juan Jabloteh who beat Tobago United 5-0 and have also won their opening two matches.
Neither Michael Wood in the Caledonia AIA goal or Alejandro Figueroa, Joe Public's recent Colombian acquisition from W. Connection had much to do in a goalless first half.
However, the Caledonia AIA defence had one moment of terror when stopper Stephen Gray had to clear a good drive from Lyndon Andrews away from his team's goal-line.
Eastern Lions, Joe Public, had familiar names such as Lyndon Andrews, Gary Glasgow, Dale Saunders and Arnold Dwarika in their midfield, but they were given little room to work by a very young, but hard-hustling Caledonia team.
The Morvant side had the first real chance of the match four minutes into the second half when Jason Cudjoe ran free down the centre of the penalty area, but ripped his hurried shot over Joe Public's crossbar.
Later, a free-kick from Kevin James stung Figueroa's fingertips as the Colombian keeper just kept the ball out of Joe Public near post. Wily Kendall Jagdeosingh also shrugged off heavy tugging from defender Adrian Michael before unleashing a dangerous volley just over the Joe Public goal.
Joe Public also had a chance to score when Dwarika's cross fell flush onto the head of their Jamaican sharp-shooter Roen Nelson. Their top scorer for the last two seasons, Nelson could only head the ball over the AIA crossbar. Joe Public then shot themselves in the leg when Jamaican substitute Wolry Wolfe got himself sent off after just ten minutes on the field and also gave away the free-kick from which Caledonia scored the winning goal.
Wolfe, on loan from Jamaica's Portmore United, got away with a wild tackle seconds after coming on for injured defender Devon Caseman. Two minutes later, Wolfe was booked for a horrible tackle, before later committing a second such offence and getting himself sent off. From the free-kick, Emmanuel hit a low diagonal shot across the box and in off the far post to win the game.
SATURDAY' S T&T PRO LEAGUE RESULTS:
San Juan Jabloteh 5 Tobago United 0
Caledonia AIA 1 Joe Public 0
United Petrotrin 0 Superstar Rangers 0
Defence Force 0 North East Stars 2