St Francois Nationals advanced to the Champions of Champions, a National Super League qualification tournament, on Wednesday, after the club dropped a nine-man Football Factory 3-0 to win the Northern Football Association (NFA) Big-Four competition, at St Francois Ground, Queen’s Park Savannah.
The result meant St Francois took another step further to reaching second tier football after being relegated last season.
All three goals were scored in the space of 15 minutes, opening at the stroke of the hour mark from former TT Pro League defender Lorne Joseph’s effort. For Football Factory, which is in its inaugural season as a senior team, things went from bad to worse when Clevon McPhee was sent off for allegedly directing obscenities at the referee, after receiving a second bookable offence.
A minute later, St Francois veteran captain Marc Borde doubled up, which was again followed by another dismissal, again to Football Factory when Stephen Grey also received a second booking, this time for stomping on an opposing player.
And, as with the second goal, the third came moments after the red card, when Ernest Edwards sealed the three points. St Francois ended the match top of the standings after six matches, with four wins and two draws.
Football Factory, which had been almost flawless before the third match of the qualifying competition, slumped to its second loss in as many matches.
In the other match, Petit Valley recorded its first win of the competition with a 2-1 triumph over Queen’s Park Cricket Club (QPCC), despite both teams already out of title contention. Both Petit Valley and Football Factory remain with one fixture, a replay from an abandoned match, which is carded for Saturday. Even with a win, Football Factory will not be able to catch up to St Francois.
Big-Four Standings
Teams Pld W D L F A Pts
St Francois 6 4 2 0 12 8 14
QPCC 6 2 1 3 10 8 7
F/Factory 5 2 1 2 5 7 7
Petit Valley 5 1 0 4 10 13 0