A furious Naparima College head coach Travis Mulraine knocked his squad's senior players for 'tactical disobedience,' which he believes was a decisive factor in their 3-2 loss to southern rivals St Benedict's at home at Lewis Street in San Fernando on Wednesday.
'Naps' gave up a two-goal lead and a chance to go top of the Secondary Schools' Football League (SSFL) premiership table as the La Romaine Lions roared back to notch an important away win.
Despite Naps' Josiah Cooper and Kanye Francis putting the hosts ahead in the first half, St Benedict's Jeremiah Niles halved their deficit before the break.
At the resumption, the Lions looked a better unit, and goals from Keanu Morean and Malachi Webb turned the game on its head.
The result saw Naps (15 points) slip to third (previously second) and helped St Benedict's (11pts) climb one spot up to ninth after round seven. The latter are defending champions.
Additionally, Fatima College's (16pts) 1-0 loss to Presentation College San Fernando saw them drop to second, while San Juan North's 2-1 win over Trinity East propelled them into pole position. The new league leaders have 18 points.
After Wednesday's match at Lewis Street, Mulraine was disappointed with the result and said he may shuffle his players for Saturday's anticipated 'southern clasico' against city rivals Presentation College.
'This game boiled down to tactical disobedience. I envy coaches who have players who are trusting in their philosophy and following instructions as best they could.
'We have guys who, some of them played in the TT Premier Football League premiership, and I think that they think they may be too big for this level of football. I think going forward, we would have to go with the younger guys and try to teach them to play the right way,' he said in a post-match interview.
Looking ahead at Saturday's big match, Mulraine hopes they can return to winning ways.
'We have to take it one game at a time. It wasn't a good result. We cannot do anything about it.
"We just have to move forward, plan for the next game and see how best we can go forward.'
St Benedict's coach Randolph Boyce was all smiles during his post-match recap.
Even though the title-holders haven't had the best start to the 2023 season, Boyce said a second-half change made the difference on the day.
'The first half, we were a little bit cagey. We defended solid in the first half.
"But I realised we had to make a technical adjustment in the way we attacked and had to be more brave going forward. That paid off for us in the second period.'
They face fifth-placed Speyside (13pts) on Saturday in round eight.
And with just six points separating current leaders San Juan North and eighth-ranked St Mary's College, Boyce believes there's still all to play for in pursuit of a potential second straight crown.
'One game at a time. In this league, it doesn't matter where you are on the table, it looks like this year, it (champions) could be anybody. We had to bring them back down to earth, get ourselves
