The new shoe fits.
You wouldn't exactly call Kevon Woodley a shoe, but Caledonia AIA coach Jamaal Shabbazz seems to think that the Tobago striker suits Caledonia AIA well.
"He's different to the other players we have had up front.....a 'lil bit like Sparrow (Colin Richards) who was a top striker we had some years ago," Shabazz said. "He is proving very good in front of goal. Even in training he has been putting away the goals. The guys like him a lot, he makes a lot of jokes and he has a different Tobago accent which makes all the guys laugh a bit."
After making his name with the now defunct Tobago United, Woodley recently signed for Caledonia AIA after a two-week trial. Already, he has raised a few eyebrows and has also rewarded his manager's faith in him by scoring twice in his first two games. His Caledonia debut saw the Tobagonian scoring in the 5-0 Caribbean Club Cup Championship demolition of Delphi Newtown United (St Kitts) 5-0 on Saturday. And he got a second on Tuesday, scoring the second goal as Caledonia won 2-0 over Ma Pau in their Digicel Pro Bowl quarter-final at the Marvin Lee Stadium.
In fact, both Trinidad and Tobago teams involved in Caribbean Champions Cup came away victorious from Tuesday's doubleheader.
Defence Force, the 2010-2011 Pro League champions, rallied to beat San Juan Jabloteh 2-1. The Army did it the hard way, rebounding in the second half through a first post Jerwyn Balthazar header (52nd minute) and later a Richard Roy (72nd) shot which went low to goalie Cleon John's far post.
Striker Jason Marcano netted the opening goal in the 32nd minute to give the A Trophy holders a first half lead.
Caledonia will now face Ma Pau from 6 p.m. in the first match of tomorrow's semi-final doubleheader at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, while W Connection face Defence Force from 8 p.m. in the other.
Until Keyon Edwards tucked away Akim Armstrong's square pass from point-blank range, the first 38 minutes of Tuesday's AIA-Ma Pau quarter-final was largely forgettable. But the match got an immediate lift when Armstrong breached the left side of the Ma Pau defence and set up Edwards for the opening goal.
First, Armstrong drew goalie Clayton Ince wide, and then unselfishly squared the ball for Edwards to score. If only for their greater enterprise, Caledonia AIA deserved the lead.
Ma Pau put on mild pressure at the start of the second half. Central defender Seon Power looked dangerous when attacking a few corner-kicks. However, the closest they came to endangering the AIA goal was a 57th minute shot from overlapping left-back Nigel Daniel, which went low and hard, but just whizzed by the far post.
Caledonia did not seem too keen to get another, until Woodley came on in the 65th for the injured Jean Luc Rochford and immediately began making his presence felt. He made a few good runs, taking some hard knocks, before scoring nine minutes after coming on.
Right-back Kareem "Tiny" Joseph seemed to have lost a scoring opportunity when he dribbled needlessly in the penalty area, but still managed to pick out Woodley, who clinically got the ball past goalie Ince. Now, having scored two in two, all eyes will be on Woodley to see if he can make it a three-game hat-trick against Joe Public tomorrow.