Presentation College of San Fernando will be favoured to continue its march towards dethroning Shiva Boys as South Zone champions by securing a ninth straight win and maintain the league’s lone 100 per cent winning record, when the BGTT/First Citizens Secondary Schools Football League resumes today with matches in all five zones from 3.45 pm.
Presentation leads the South seven-team table with maximum 24 points from eight matches, eight ahead of Shiva which has a match in hand while Naparima College, the only team still in the title race has 15 from eight matches.
Today, Presentation will journey to La Romain for a clash with fourth placed St Benedict’s College with both teams coming off contrasting results on the weekend while Naparima and Shiva meet at the Manny Ramjohn Stadium, Marabella, with both teams knowing a defeat for either will end its title chase.
Led by a hat-trick from the prolific Shaquille Henry, Presentation hammered Princes Town 6-1 on Saturday while St Benedict’s fell 1-0 to Naparima and Shiva was on a bye.
In the zone’s other match today, Princes Town and Pleasantville, which was held 2-2 at Moruga on Saturday meet at Princes Town. But while the South Zone title could well be decided over the next two match days, the hunt for top honours in the North, East, Central and Tobago Zones are far from over with defending national champions St Anthony’s, Arima North, Carapichaima and Scarborough all holding narrow leads of no more than four points.
The “Westmooring Tigers” of St Anthony’s (18 points) lead the North by three points from rival East Mucurapo after both teams could only muster 0-0 draws against Digeo Martin North and Trinity College, which allowed St Mary’s (14 pts) to close the gap at the top after a 4-1 thumping of Fatima College.
However, with the “Saints” and East Mucurapo meeting in a key clash at Serpentine Road, a win for the “Tigers” away to the inconsistent Trinity at Moka, Maraval could strengthen its claim for a successful title-defence, while fourth placed Fatima (13 points) College entertains struggling Queen’s Royal College.
In the East Zone, Arima North (18 pts) enjoys a two-point cushion over defending champion El Dorado West which is on a bye today while San Juan North is next with 14 points followed by St Augustine (11 points) with the latter two having played a match less each. Arima North, which mauled Toco 6-1 in its last outing a week ago, travels to El Dorado West hoping to repeat its 2-1 first round triumph, while San Juan North travels to Trinity East, and St Augustine is away to Toco.
Chaguanas North, is currently second on the six-team Central Zone table with 11 points, four behind reigning champions, Carapichaima East and will have a chance today to narrow the gap to one point with victory over lowly Tabaquite in a re-scheduled encounter at Home Land Gardens, Chaguanas today. The match was originally carded for a week ago, but was called off due to a lack of officials.
Over in Tobago, leaders’ Scarborough (seven points) can take a big step towards the title with a victory at home over long-time rival Signal Hill, which is yet to get a win after four matches while Speyside hostsMason Hall.
Today’s Matches [NB: All matches begin at 3.45pm unless otherwise stated]
North
St Mary’s vs East Mucurapo, St Mary’s Ground
Trinity vs St Anthony’s, Moka, Maraval
Fatima vs QRC, Fatima Ground
East
Toco vs St Augustine, Toco
El Dorado West vs Arima North, El Dorado
San Juan North vs Trinity East, Trinity East
South
Naparima vs Shiva Boys, Manny Ramjohn Stadium, Marabella
St Benedict’s vs Presentation, La Romain
Princes Town vs Pleasantville, Princes Town
Central
Chaguanas North vs Tabaquite, Home Land Gardens
Tobago
Speyside vs Mason Hall, Speyside
Signal Hill vs Scarborough, Signal Hill
Standings
North
Teams P W D L F A Pts
St Anthony’s 8 5 3 0 13 5 18
East Mucurapo 8 4 3 1 12 6 15
St Mary’s 8 4 2 2 12 8 14
Fatima 8 4 1 3 10 8 13
Trinity 7 1 1 5 4 12 5
D/Martin North 8 1 2 5 5 14 5
QRC 7 1 1 5 11 14 4
East
Teams P W D L F A Pts
Arima North 8 5 3 0 25 10 18
El Do East 8 5 1 2 18 15 16
San Juan North 7 4 2 1 13 4 14
St Augustine 7 3 2 2 13 9 11
Trinity East 7 2 1 4 13 14 7
El Do West 8 2 0 6 7 16 6
Toco 7 0 1 6 4 25 1
South
Teams P W D L F A Pts
Presentation 8 8 0 0 26 3 24
Shiva 7 5 1 1 12 3 16
Naparima 8 5 0 3 17 10 15
St Benedict’s 8 3 2 3 18 9 11
P/Town 6 1 1 4 6 16 4
P’ville 8 1 1 6 6 17 4
Moruga 7 0 1 6 5 32 1
Central
Teams P W D L F A Pts
Carapichaima 6 5 0 1 43 5 15
Chaguanas N 5 3 2 0 12 2 11
Couva West 6 3 0 3 9 15 9
Presentation 5 1 2 2 3 11 5
Tabaquite 5 1 1 3 3 17 4
Gasparillo 5 0 1 4 2 22 1
Tobago
Teams P W D L F A Pts
S/borough 3 2 1 0 10 5 7
Speyside 3 1 2 0 6 5 5
M/Hall 2 0 2 0 2 2 2
S/Hill 4 0 2 2 2 5 2
R/borough 2 0 1 1 2 5 1
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