Arima, St Augustine tipped for final

ARIMA and St Augustine are favoured to advance to the East Zonal final of the RBTT Intercol tournament on Tuesday following today’s semifinal double-header at the Larry Gomes Stadium, Malabar, Arima. The “Dial Dynamos” Arima is too strong an opposition for St George’s to overcome in the second of back-to-back matches while the “Green Machine” St Augustine meet Hillview in the earlier encounter at 3 pm. Led by the season’s most consistent strike force of Gorean “Mickey Rat” Highley and Dorian Daniel, Arima will be going for their third straight win against St George’s, following their 5-2 triumph on September 20 and 7-0 thrashing on October 14. St Augustine whipped 2003 debutants Hillview 6-0 on September 8, a result which was reversed to 3-0 in Hillview’s favour by the Secondary Schools Football League (SSFL) Disciplinary Committee.

But the Green Machine’s won the return encounter 2-0 and, with the consistency of striker Shane Calderon and midfielder Marcus Ambrose, are expected to eliminate their Tunapuna-based rivals. Another double-header is slated for the Ato Boldon Stadium, Balmain, Couva, also from 3 pm. Presentation Chaguanas will be vying for their third straight win over Union Claxton Bay in the curtain raiser (“Pres” won 2-0 on September 25 and 1-0 on October 11) while Carapichaima and Tabaquite square off in the second clash. Both teams have defeated each other once during this season, with Carapichaima hammering Tabaquite 4-1 on September 10 while Tabaquite exacted a measure of revenge with a narrow 1-0 win 17 days later.