Jabloteh mow down Arnett Gardens

KINGSTON: San Juan Jabloteh completed a Trinidad and Tobago sweep of the semi-finals of the Caribbean Football Union zone in the CONCACAF Champions Cup when they passed Jamaica’s Arnett Gardens 3-1 at the Tony Spaulding Complex on Wednesday.

The visitors will face compatriots W Connection in the CFU zone final, after they took the series 6-2 on aggregate, having won the first semifinal by the same margin in Port-of-Spain last week. Last Friday, W Connection edged Portmore United, the other Jamaican side in the semifinals, 1-0 on aggregate to advance to the final, the winner of which will earn a berth at the 2004 CONCACAF Champions Cup finals.

Scoring for Jabloteh was shared between Kerry Baptiste, Trent Noel and Nigel Pierre, while Denton Sheddon scored Arnett’s goal. Baptiste put the vistors ahead in the 38th minute when Josh Johnson threaded a ball from the right side and he controlled before calmly slotting past Arnett’s custodian Allan Reid from inside the box.

Sheddon pulled one back before the break when he volleyed Kwame Richardson’s miskicked shot into the roof of the net from five yards out in the 43rd minute. In the first minute of the second half, Arnett knew they would have to climb a mountain when Noel got behind the defence to head past Reid from a set-play. Another goal from substitute Pierre in the 67th minute, five minutes after coming onto the field, buried Arnett’s chances of a comeback story.