St Anthony's College looked less than their regular selves when they strolled to a 4-1 victory against Tranquillity Government Secondary in Round Two of the BG T&T Secondary Schools Football League at the Hasely Crawford Stadium yesterday.
Despite the win, the "Tigers" did not seem the cohesive unit that has shown up on the field for most of the season thus far. The Westmoorings team welcomed back Troy Thompson to the central midfield position in his first match for 2004, but although they were the better team on the day, they somehow seemed to lack purpose.
St Anthony's went on the attack from the first whistle, but took forever to settle, muffing several good chances in the first 20 minutes. "Tranquil" meanwhile were playing determined, and themselves came close on a few occasions, but clinical finishing was lacking.
Eventually St Anthony's would go ahead in the 26th minute when Lester Peltier got past a defender in the 18-yard box before beating Tranquil goalkeeper Kareem Charles to his left.
The Tigers would enjoy this lead until the 41st, when the diminutive Richard Grieg snuck a corner kick into Keegan Davidson's near post to tie the scores at 1-1. That seemed to spur St Anthony's to life and they responded almost immediately, Kevon Neaves slamming home a loose ball less than a minute later from about 17 metres out. The score stayed 2-1 in St Anthony's favour at the half.
St Anthony's returned in the second half trying to put the game out of Tranquil's reach, but as opportunities quickly came and went, they found themselves shielding their slim lead, as Tranquil sought the equaliser.
In the 76th minute the Tigers added to their tally, as the speedy Akil De Freitas rounded a defender down the left flank and slipped the ball into the penalty area at the feet of Thompson, who turned and slotted home.
A minute later with St Anthony's on the attack again, Charles appeared to have collided with a defender while advancing to claim the ball, and what ensued was an unnecessary break in play of almost nine minutes. Even the officials thought Charles would be substituted, but he was eventually allowed to play with a bandaged right knee.
The Tigers would have one more goal in the 90th minute, Peltier notching his second after evading a defender, then the advancing 'keeper on the right and tapping home with the goal at his mercy.
In other action, QRC went down to Fatima at home, Stephen St Louis' item in the first ten minutes proving the difference between the two teams. Leaders Mucurapo defeated Morvant/Laventille in a close 2-1 affair, while Malick had victory by a similar margin over CIC.
THE TEAMS
ST ANTHONY'S: Keegan Davidson, Yohance Marshall, Brendon Boucaud, Kareem Freitas, Kerron Sutton, Troy Thompson, Hans Rogers, Kevon Neaves, Akil De Freitas, Lester Peltier (Kevin Mussio, Matthew Burke, Manuel Rezende, Justin Highley, Shabazz Best, Kwesi Thomas, Jamal Wiggins)
TRANQUILLITY: Kareem Charles, Richard Charles, Nocholas Woods, Randy Castillo, Kevin Simmons, Kevon Simmons, Keston Hamilton, Richard Greig, Shirvon Phillip, Josimar Franklyn Kedane Rajpaul (Chivalos George, Nyron Allen, Jamaal Antoine, Marvin Diaz, Jeremy Chapman, Johann Corneal)
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