Cunupia FC kept its hopes of lifting a third title this season alive when it whipped KC Perseverance 4-2 in a must-win CRILLE-sponsored Central Football Association Premier Division match at Hugo Francis Recreation Ground, Woodford Lodge, on Thursday night.
For Cunupia, Ishmael Vincent opened the scoring as early as the sixth minute while Kareem Beckles made it 2-0 nine minutes later. However, just before the interval Perseverance hit back with two goals of their own through Scott Benny in the 39th and Kevon Joseph four minutes later for a 2-2 score.
On the resumption, Cunupia rediscovered its dominance and regained the lead in the 58th minute thanks to Lorenzo King while Jamal Spencer made certain of victory with a 74th minute item. The win carried Cunupia back to the top of the standings with 38 points and one match left to play against Cap Off Youths on Monday at the same venue while second placed Enterprise Youths, one point behind, has two matches left.
Third-placed Edinburgh with 31 points from 17 matches and Leeds United, fourth with 31 points from 16 matches, are the two other teams in contention for the $10,000 league first prize and a spot in the T&T Football Federation “Champion of Champions” competition from which three teams will qualify for the blink/bmobile National Super League. Second gets $5,000, third, $3,000 and fourth, $2,000.
Also on Thursday, St Mary’s United ended the faint hopes of Las Lomas with a 2-1 defeat in the first match at Woodford Lodge with Kevon Wilson and Careca Taylor cancelling out Ray Collymore’s early strike. The other match on schedule between fifth-placed Harlem Strikers (30 points) and Enterprise was not played and is now before the Disciplinary Committee.
Thursday’s results:
St Mary’s 2 (Kevon Wilson 26th, Careca Taylor 54th) vs Las Lomas 1 (Ray Collymore 9th)
Cunupia 4 (Ishmael Vincent 6th, Kareem Beckles 15th, Lorenzo King 58th, Jamal Spencer 74th) vs Perseverance Utd 2 (Scott Benny 39th, Kevon Joseph 43rd)
Current CFA Premier Division:
Teams P W D L F A Pts
Cunupia 19 11 5 3 42 21 38
Enterprise 18 11 4 3 37 18 37
Edinburgh 17 9 4 4 31 18 31
Leeds 16 9 4 3 28 20 31
Strikers 18 9 3 6 34 31 30
Las Lomas 18 9 2 7 27 26 29
Perseverance 18 8 4 6 42 33 28
St Mary’s 19 5 2 12 27 39 17
Cap Off Youths 17 4 2 11 28 43 14
Ball Runners 18 2 6 10 16 31 12
Couva Sports 20 2 4 14 11 43 10
Upcoming matches - Premier Division [Monday]
Cunupia vs Cap Off Youths, Hugo Francis Rec. Ground, Woodford, 5 pm
Enterprise vs Leeds, Hugo Francis Rec. Ground, Woodford Lodge, 7 pm