DAVID SCARLETT
THE first finalist of this season’s Secondary Schools Football League (SSFL) Premiership campaign is now known, as St Benedict’s booked their place in the championship fixture after whipping Presentation San Fernando 5-3 at the Ato Boldon Stadium, Couva on Friday evening.
This will be only the second season in Premiership history that neither Naparima or Presentation will be crowned champions of the SSFL top flight (Shiva Boys’ Hindu College won in 2016).
In the battle of the Lions, the ‘La Romaine Lions’ put on a dominant display against their fierce rivals. The unit did not allow Presentation to play their usual pressing football and they made it their duty to be first to every ball.
St Benedict’s Derrell Garcia was the first to break down Presentation’s defensive barrier in the 21st minute. The speedy attacking maestro picked up the ball from midfield and dribbled all the way to the penalty area before clinically slotting the ball past Kanye Lazarus in the Presentation goal.
The match-winner against Naparima, Nicholas Bobcombe, then turned provider on this occasion as he smartly played a well-cushioned pass to Josiah Ochoa, who doubled the St Benedict’s lead from inside the penalty area three minutes later.
Lyshawn Morris made it 3-0 to the boys in green in the 31st minute, courtesy a impressive curled shot into the top right corner, leaving Lazarus with no chance of reaching it.
The early moments of the second half proved to be more of the same as the La Romaine Lions continued to dominate possession and shots on goal.
They were rewarded with a fourth goal in the 59th minute when captain Tarik Lee lead a counter-attack and stormed through Presentation’s back line to clinically place his shot past Lazarus’ left hand from 12 yards out.
Not long after, in the 63rd minute, Bobcombe finally got himself on the scoresheet, thanks to some incredibly smart refereeing. Bobcombe ran down to the byline and initially played a pass into the goal area, leaving him in an offside position.
[caption id="attachment_982002" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Naparima's Daniel Quashie (right) is tackled by a St Benedict's College player during the Tiger Tanks SSFL Premiership semi-final at the Ato Boldon Stadium, Couva on Friday. -[/caption]
However, in an attempt to defend, the ball was then deliberately played by Pres defender, Terrance Worrell, back to Bobcombe’s feet. The St Benedict’s number ten then rifled the ball into the back off the net, which triggered assistant referee Noel Moore to raise his flag for offside.
Assumingly, Moore perceived that the ball was played by St Benedict’s Jeremiah Niles who was closely tucked behind Worrell, hence the reason he raised his flag.
But referee Nikolai Nyron commendably consulted Moore, stating that there was no offside in the phase of play, and the goal was rightly given to make it 5-0 to St Benedict’s.
Presentation, the current Intercol and Tiger Tanks Cup champion
