Presentation College San Fernando came off a gruelling contest against Carapichaima East Secondary on Saturday with full points but will head into today’s South derby against Naparima College at Manny Ramjohn Stadium without Omri Baird and Shirwin Noel after both players were shown red cards on Saturday.
‘Pres’ sit second on the 16-team Shell/First Citizens Secondary School Football League (SSFL) Premier Division table on 13 points, two less than defending champions and current leaders Shiva Boys Hindu College. Apart from a 2-2 draw in the opening game of the season against San Juan North Secondary, Pres have been dominant, winning their last four games to stay close to Shiva at the top.
Baird opened the scoring for ‘Pres’ on Saturday before getting a red card in the second half of the contest. Jaiye Shepperd scored the decisive goal in the match to ensure Pres stayed in the title hunt.
They will have little time to catch their breath with another tough encounter today against Naps, who battle from two goals down on Saturday to beat St Augustine Secondary 3-2 thanks to second half hattrick from Judah St Louis.
Stephon Eallie put St Augustine ahead in the 42nd minute before Anthony Samuel put them 2-0 up in the 63rd.
St Louis brought Naps back into the match with goals in the 76th and 80th minutes before scoring the winner in the 90th.
Naps don’t have the same consistency as Pres. Before Saturday, Naps were held to a 2-2 draw by St Anthony’s College before that, they went under 2-1 against Fatima College. However, they will be confident of stringing together a few more positive results after Saturday’s unlikely victory.
Meanwhile, Shiva and San Juan will be putting their unbeaten tags on the line today when the two teams square off in San Juan. Shiva have maintained a perfect record so far this season with five wins in five matches while San Juan haven’t lost a game with one win and four draws. San Juan are fifth on the table on seven points and above them are Fatima College (9) and Fyzabad Secondary (9).
Fatima, who came away 2-0 winners against Signal Hill on Saturday, have managed to win their previous three games and will be favourites to overcome struggling Trinity College Moka. Meanwhile, Fyzabad did not see action over the weekend with their game in Westmoorings being postponed due to a waterlogged pitch. They face St Augustine Secondary in St Augustine today. All matches kick off at 3.40 p.m.
Today’s SSFL Premier Division matches
St Benedict’s College vs Signal Hill Secondary, Barrackpore
Fatima College vs Trinity College Moka, Mucurapo
St Mary’s College vs Carapichaima East Sec, Serpentine Road
Trinity College East vs QRC, Trincity
Presentation College San Fernando vs Naparima College, Manny Ramjohn Stadium
St Anthony’s College vs Speyside High, Westmoorings
St Augustine Secondary vs Fyzabad Secondary, St Augustine
San Juan North Sec vs Shiva Boys Hindu College, San Juan