Defence Force earned a scrappy but crucial 1-0 victory over Terminix La Horquetta Rangers in a rescheduled TT Premier Football League fixture at the Police Barracks Grounds in St James on Tuesday.
A well-taken penalty from defender Justin Garcia in the 35th minute sent Rangers crashing to their second straight defeat, after Saturday's shock loss to Morvant Caledonia.
Defence Force started well and won a penalty after defender Caleb Sturge's illegally halted Jameel Cooper with a sliding tackle as he raced through on goal. A grimacing Cooper had to substituted.
Garcia converted by smashing his left footed shot off the lower right post and into the back of the net.
Both teams endured a physical affair and the referee was kept busy.
Into the second half, Defence Force and Rangers cancelled each other out since the majority of their attacking plays posed no real threat to either goalkeeper.
Rangers tried to press for the equaliser but could not break their opponents’ defensive line.
In the final minutes, Defence Force capitalised on tired Rangers legs but they also did not have the finishing touch.
The three points for coach Hutson Charles’ men keeps the race for the inaugural crown in hot contention.
Defence Force remain in third (37pts) but have closed the gap on leaders AC Port of Spain (39pts) and second-placed Club Sando FC (38pts). They’ve all played 15 matches each.
[caption id="attachment_1016442" align="alignnone" width="1024"] La Horquetta Rangers' Ataulla Guerra is surrounded by Defence Force's Justin Garcia, left, and Kevon Goddard in a TT Premier League match at Police Barracks, St James, Tuesday. - ROGER JACOB[/caption]
Charles expressed pleasure with the result.
“We came here to get three points and we did it. One of the things I told them is that they have to be aggressive today because Rangers is a running team, so we had to match them, and I think we did that today.”
A clearly disgruntled Rangers owner Richard Ferguson had some choice words for his players, who remain in fourth spot with 31 pts.
“They’re running like how we expected them to play, which is poor. They’re not dribbling, passing, shooting…
"The performance has really been substandard over the past few weeks and it continues to be so,” Ferguson said.
When asked why, he replied, “I think just playing a lot of football. When we played in the Caribbean tour, we came back and had games to make up. We’re playing literally two and three games per week, so they’re getting…it’s stale.”
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