Highley double puts Arima in Intercol final

ACE striker Gorean “Mickey Rat” Highley scored a double as Arima earned a come-from-behind 2-1 victory over Signal Hill in their RBTT National Intercol semi-final at the Dwight Yorke Stadium, Bacolet, Tobago, yesterday. And the “Dial Dynamos” will now oppose defending champs, “Westmoorings Tigers” St Anthony’s in the final at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Mucurapo, on Thursday.

When the teams last met on October 25, also at the Mucurapo venue, the Tigers also came from a goal down to defeat Arima 2-1 in the Big 5 final. In front of a noisy crowd  of approximately 4,000, Signal Hill went ahead after 18 minutes when captain and star midfielder Keon Daniel shot home  a left-footed free-kick past a  flat-footed Arima goalkeeper Ryan Ajim. The game began an hour later than scheduled due to the late arrival of  lunches for the Arima camp, but the “Dial Dynamos” were undaunted by those setbacks, and got the deserved equaliser in the 34th, with Highley capitalising on a defensive mix-up to smash home past goalkeeper Victor Thomas.

Signal Hill  midfielder Kino Proctor should have put the home team  back in front in the 40th minute, but he sent his header wide with Ajim beaten. Arima made Proctor and his teammates pay for this lapse when Highley made no mistake with a 53rd minute penalty. After receiving a centre from Highley, a goal-bound Devon King was heavily brought down by defender Atiba Williams and referee Richard Piper did not hesitate to  point to the penalty spot. Signal Hill tried valiantly to level the scores as the game wore on, but the Arima defence held firm until the final whistle.