Ma Pau cop Toyota Classic

This was the first time that either club contested the final of the Toyota Classic but victory for Ma Pau saw them earn a piece of silverware in only their third season at the professional level.

Ma Pau’s new goalkeeper, the experienced Clayton Ince, was an imposing presence in the penalty shootout, and his display saw him walk away with the tournament’s Most Valuable Player (MVP) award.

Ince’s intimidating figure, and his tactic of standing behind the goal-line, clearly caused anxiety amongst the North East penalty-takers. Anthony Wolfe had his shot saved to Ince’s right, while Gary Glasgow struck the bar, and Sean Fraser sent his effort high.

Ma Pau’s first kick, from Rennie Britto, was saved by Michael Woods, but captain Corneal Thomas, Aquil Selby and Shandel Samuel converted their efforts to send the Ma Pau faithful into a frenzy.

In regulation time, Cyd Gray put Ma Pau ahead in the 13th minute with a point-blank header while Anthony Wolfe responded in the 69th from the penalty spot in a tense affair which saw another veteran player, Ma Pau’s midfielder Lyndon Andrews sent off by referee Neal Brizan following a confrontation with the oldest player in the match Kendall Velox.

North East retained the same starting line-up which eliminated Joe Public’s Super League outfit in last week’s semi-final

Ma Pau made a pair of changes to the squad which knocked out San Juan Jabloteh, with Trevin Caesar and new signing Nigel Daniel replacing Dwane James and Seon Power respectively.

Anthony Wolfe, playing against the team he started the season with, was given a good chance to open his account after eight minutes but his effort was parried by Ince, before Leslie Fitzpatrick, who switched from North East to Ma Pau in December, played his part in Ma Pau’s opener, whipping in a corner from the right which was headed home by Gray, via the glancing Carey Harris on the goal-line.

Caesar was rightfully booked for diving, in an attempt to win a penalty after being confronted by Keryn Navarro, though Ma Pau’s coach Michael McComie was visibly enraged, but Ince, once again, did well to deny a long-range blast from Velox. North East turned up the tempo in the second half, in pursuit of the equaliser, as Ince produced a magnificent aerial save, to his left, to thwart a swerving drive from Fraser, but Glasgow embarrassingly scooped the rebound overbar.

From a corner on the left, Fraser and Velox exchanged passes before the ball was crossed to Anthony Wolfe who narrowly missed the mark with a diving header.

The Wolfe brothers combined to win a penalty for North East, as Ince parried Glenton Wolfe’s freekick but Anthony Wolfe was impeded by defender Selby – Anthony Wolfe slammed home his penalty to the top right-hand corner.

Britto was culpable as he missed two close-range chances, the first from a diagonal ball by Samuel and the second from a feed by Andrews.

However Andrews’ game ended in the 85th as he was shown a red card after an off-the-ball confrontation with Velox after Andrews took offence to a hard tackle by the Vincentian a minute earlier.

Ma Pau had a last chance to earn the win in normal time, but Selby’s header, from a Britto corner, was saved low to his right by Woods.

NORTH EAST STARS: Michael Woods, Charles Pollard (capt), Glenton Wolfe, Carey Harris, Keryn Navarro; Jeromie Williams, Kendall Velox (Randolph Jerome 87th), Gary Glasgow, Akiel Guevara (Kaydion Gabriel 76th); Sean Fraser, Anthony Wolfe.

MA PAU: Clayton Ince; Aquil Selby, Corneal Thomas (capt), Cyd Gray, Nigel Daniel; Leslie Fitzpatrick (Shane Calderon 65th), Lyndon Andrews, Rennie Britto, Kerry Noray; Trevin Caesar (Dwane James 88th), Shandel Samuel.