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As a San Juanian I'm happy, but as a Trini I'm very disappointed with what should have been the showpiece occasion of our football season.
When it comes to the peripheral issues related to Saturday's T&T Pro League decider between CL Financial San Juan Jabloteh and W Connection--scheduling of the fixture (why 3 p.m.?), poor attendance and the complete absence of any information via the scoreboard or public address system at the Ato Boldon Stadium--I'm sure League CEO Dexter Skeene realises that he and his fellow officials still have a tremendous amount of work to do to raise the profile of the country's premier competition.

These are elements over which the former national striker, League president Larry Romany and other influential people have a measure of control, although I suspect that finance may be a significant issue when it comes to more aggressive marketing, and that may be an even greater challenge next year with all the indications, long before the government of the day finally decided to formally acknowledge what has been blindingly obvious for several months, that we are in the early stages of an economic slowdown.

But even as he was walking out from the dressing room area minutes before the final whistle to place the Pro League and Big 6 trophies on the presentation table, Skeene could not have been happy with the quality of a game tailormade for drama.

With "Connection" at home and needing a win to wrest the championship from Jabloteh's grip, it was not unreasonable to expect that that the Savonetta-based squad would have been throwing everything at the champions in pursuit of the three points, especially with time running out in the second half and the goalless stalemate not yet broken.

Granted Teba McKnight should have put away a first-half effort after Cleon John had blocked Andre Toussaint's advance, but it is inexplicable that the San Juan custodian was called upon to make just one proper save in all of the second half, although he should have at least been forced into action in the dying seconds when a shot from an acute angle whizzed past his right-hand upright.

Team owner David John Williams and coach Stuart Charles-Fevrier, even as they concentrate on lifting their squad for the Toyota Classic and FA Trophy competitions, must be asking themselves still why their players just seemed to lack the desire to take the game to Jabloteh when they were the ones required to do all the running.

For their part, the title-holders played like a team preserving an advantageous position. Yes, there were moments when Trent Noel, Jerol Forbes, Cornell Glenn and certainly Jason Marcano should have put the issue beyond doubt, but the overriding feeling after the final whistle was that of a massive letdown, for I was hoping that such a decisive game would have provided ample evidence to refute the claims by former national coach Wim Rijsbergen and others that the local competition is just not up to the standard to produce players capable of stepping up to the requirements at international level.

This unflattering assessment is an almost direct contradiction of football writer Ian Prescott's report in the "Sunday Express", and I will be the first to acknowledge that I hardly watch any local football and my expectations would therefore have been influenced by what appears on the television screens week-in, week-out in the top leagues and competitions of the world.

Additionally, I am no football aficionado. Things like 5-3-2 or 5-4-1 formations escape me completely and I'm very much out of my league when learned observers start talking about tactical adjustments when they see what their opponents are presenting on the pitch.

So it's quite possible that I don't know what I'm talking about, and I accept that. Still, you can only respond to what's in front of you based on your limited appreciation of what constitutes good football, and through these eyes (and, I have to add, my better half's, who wondered aloud more than once about why I dragged her away from watching HGTV to see this "big game" in real life) this was a poor advertisement for the local game.

There just wasn't the intensity that should be expected from such a fixture, if you exclude Jabloteh coach Terry Fenwick, who spent almost every second of play on the very edge of his technical area, barking instructions to his players and snarling at the referee and nearby linesman when their calls didn't go his team's way.

In a near-empty stadium, the constant howling from the former England defender was becoming increasingly irritating. But say what you want about his methods, Fenwick has again brought success to San Juan, and the manner in which he was embraced by players, technical staff and almost everyone associated with the club after the game left no doubt that he is very much at the core of a successful Jabloteh set-up.

It's been a long season and there are still a few games to go, not to mention a Caribbean Cup tournament that kicks off on Wednesday night in Kingston when more locally-based players will have the chance to show their worth with next year's final phase of World Cup qualifying beckoning.

Still, and again forgive my ignorance, Saturday November 29 at the Ato Boldon Stadium was not an occasion to remember in the annals of Trinidad and Tobago football.

That shouldn't stop the Jabloteh faithful, and indeed all of San Juan, from celebrating though.