A hat-trick from Lindell Sween guided San Juan North Secondary School to a 6-0 demolition of Bishop's High School of Tobago in the Premier Division of the Secondary Schools Football League (SSFL), on Saturday.
Playing in front of his home crowd in Bourg Mulatresse, Sween took his tally to eight for the season and kept his team at the top of the standings with 21 points from eight matches.
San Juan North, despite early possession, almost went behind in the 28th minute though as Bishop's captain Kerron Arthur raced on to a left-side centre, and from the top of the area, he failed to get the ball on target, as the ball sailed high over the crossbar.
San Juan North's lone loss last week did not affect their confidence or their play yesterday. And from a neat buildup down the right, they really should have gotten the opener in the 37th minute. Nathan Quashie who terrorised the Bishop's defence all afternoon long, delivered a pin-point cross for the unmarked Jaheem Danclar in front of a gaping goal, but he somehow headed wide of the target.
A minute later, they would not be denied. From an almost identical display, Jadiel Joseph, this time taunted the Bishop's defence on the right side before picking out the unmarked Danclar to turn the ball into the net for the 1-0 lead.
The goal lifted the confidence of the home team and they tightened the screws on their opponents in the following moments. However, it was on the stroke of half-time that Sween got his first goal. Danclar failed to collect a ball that was directed to him from the right side and Sween, who was lurking behind him, took a cheeky first touch before blasting the ball past goalkeeper Kristeon Mc Eachnie in the Bishop's goal.
It was Sween's sixth goal of the season that took the teams to the halfway interval.
There were no real changes to the play when the teams returned to the pitch. In fact, San Juan North extended its advantage to 3-0 when Quashie skilfully curled the ball from a free kick past Mc Eachnie with just three minutes gone in the second half.
Still, however, the San Juan North men were far from the finish, as Sween scored two goals in the space of three minutes to take the tally to 5-0. First, he benefited from a defensive blunder on top of the Bishop's High area that allowed him to hurdle over a defender and hit the ball low and hard past Mc Eachnie in the 83rd minute for a 4-0 advantage.
Then Sween two minutes later galloped on to a toe-poked pass from Joshua Lewis and calmly hit the ball past the Bishop's High custodian for his hat-trick and his team's fifth goal for which he punched the atmosphere during his celebration.
With Bishop's High providing little to no resistance, Joseph hammered the final item home when he was picked out free on the left side of the goal area and he drilled it low past Mc Eachnie for the 6-0 victory.
RESULTS
San Juan North 6 (Lindel Sween 45th, 83rd, 85th, Jaheem Danclar 38th, Nathan Quashie 48th, Jadiel Joseph 91st) vs Bishop's High 0
St Anthony's 2 (Jean Marc Thomas 30th, Andell Fraser 78th) vs East Mucurapo 0
Benedict’s 5 ( Daniel Jones 4, Nathan George) vs Speyside 0
Chaguanas North 1 ( Justin Lewis) vs Fatima 4 ( Caden Trestrail 2, Luke Correia, Aidan De Gannes)
Presentation 2 (Vaughn Clement 2) vs QRC 0
Malick 5 (Oba Samuel 38th, Keston Richards 10th, Tyrese Manswell 27th, Jalon Matthews 53rd, Jordan Ferdinand 35th) vs CIC 2
Pleasantville 0 vs Arima 1 (Criston Gomez 16th)
Naparima 2 (Tevin Pantor, Jarod Pascal) vs Trinity East 1
STANDINGS:
Position*Team*P*W*D*L*F*A*Pts
1*San Juan North*8*7*0*1*24*10*21
2*Fatima*8*6*1*1*27*4*19
3*Naparima*8*6*0*2*36*7*18
4*Presentation*8*5*2*1*12*3*17
5*St Anthony’s*8*5*0*3*23*12*15
6*Arima North*8*4*3*1*14*5*15
7*St Benedict’s*8*4*2*2*16*8*14
8*Speyside*8*4*1*3*12*13*13
9*St Mary’s*8*4*0*4*23*26*12
10*QRC*8*3*0*5*13*12*9
11*East Mucurapo*8*3*0*5*9*20*9
12*Malick*8*3*0*5*21*13*9
13*Trinity East*7*1*2*4*8*11*5
14*Bishop’s High*7*1*0*6*4*20*3
15*Chaguanas North*8*1*0*7*3*46*3
16*Pleasantville*8*0*1*7*4*39*1
SOURCE: T&T Guardian
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