Lewis hat-trick douses Flames

Trinidad and Tobago international, Lewis, completed his hat-trick in the first half with goals in the 21st, 40th and 44th minutes after Simpson opened the scoring in the 11th minute for the former Caribbean champions who took a 4-0 cushion into the break.

Jamaica national Simpson, who started along with his countrymen Damian Williams and Adrian Reid, made it 5-0 six minutes into the second half before completing his hat-trick on the hour mark — by which time Jabloteh were leading 7-0 inclusive of a 57th-minute item from Panamanian midfielder Jairo Lombardo.

Substitutes Tyrone Charles and Jamal Gay, who replaced Simpson and Guyana’s Verlon Mills respectively with 23 minutes left, completed the 9-0 rout with goals in the 72nd and 82nd minutes, respectively.

Gay, however, will miss the remaining Group E fixtures against Guadeloupe’s Club Sportif Moulien today and host team System 3 Sport Academy on Sunday due to a knee injury and is expected to be replaced by utility player Kennedy Hinkson.

Jabloteh coach Keith Jeffrey was happy for the victory but says his side was guilty of wasting a number of scoring opportunities.

“We could have been double the amount (at the end) but, like over the years without natural goal scorers, we were not able to finish off the team early,” lamented the Jabloteh coach.

“Against Flames, who I would say can compete in the Super League, we had around eight or nine chances in the first ten minutes but didn’t score.” The result, however, put Jabloteh top of Group E but only ahead of Moulien by goal-difference, after the Guadeloupe outfit defeated System 3 Sporting Academy 4-0 in the second game of Wednesday’s Victoria Park double-header.

Jeffrey expects a tougher challenge today from the Guadeloupe champions in the virtual group final.

“I’ve had a look at them (Moulien) against the local side System 3 and they played a nice game and won 4-0,” Jeffrey said.

“It’s a virtual final for us on Friday.

If we want to progress to the final six stage of the tournament we need to be more lethal.

Our execution with and without the ball must also improve.

Once we win on Friday we own Group E.”