Naparima hungry for more success

While zonal success is nothing new to Naparima, they have in recent times been unable to convert that dominance into success at the national level.

The southerners have not held a national title, Big Five or Intercol since the 1999 and 2000 seasons.

This year they were not highly favoured to retain their league title. They were in a rebuilding stage having a very young team with approximately two thirds of the 22-man squad being under 17 years of age.

This may have been the reason for their slow start but the boys from Independence Avenue found their stride midway through the season and finished strong with wins in six of their last seven matches.

A run saw them clinch the top spot with three full rounds of matches still to be played.

Assistant coach Dunston Williams accredited this year’s surprise success to proper preparation and the positive approach the players took towards their game.

He pointed out that the team’s defence, including the efforts of custodian Leston Shade, who only conceded five goals in 12 matches this year was the team’s best asset.

Williams also praised the good work by the coaching staff which includes head coach Kurtwyn Baird, assistants Shawn Cooper, Jefferson George and Sheldon Joseph as well as team manager Richard Nagaur.

The coach acknowledged that the odds were against them this year, with the team’s inexperience being a major factor. They were also handicapped by the fact that the majority of their opponents had byes before they came up against them resulting in Naparima having to play a well-rested team on many occasions.

Inexperience could prove to be a factor in the Intercol tournament.

The atmosphere is a different one, the crowds are larger and more intimidating, opponents play with greater motivation and the pressure to perform may be insurmountable for the younger players.

This is why the coach believes that for this team to be successful in the post season; senior players like captain Sherick Hilaire, Javed Mohammed, Adisa Connel and Runato Ramlochan have key roles to play in taking the burden of pressure off their younger counterparts and lead the team to victory.

Williams knows all too well that success in the league does not always culminate into success in the knockout stage.

Last year he was on the bench when the league champs were upset by lowly-rated Fyzabad 2-1 in the second round. While he gave credit to Fyzabad for how they played, he believed that "Naps" brought about their own demise by not executing the game plan.

The coaching staff is doing everything in their power to ensure that such a mishap does not occur this year.

As far as challengers in south are concerned, he did not want to single out any one team but mentioned that St Benedicts, Vessigny and Princes Town would all present tough competition. Williams also noted that last year champs Fyzabad could not be overlooked as they possessed a team full of senior players.

However he feels confident that his team could take the two national titles this year once they take things match by match and leave the rest to God.

Their first test will come in the "Big 5" semi-final match against Tobago giants Signal Hill at the Manny Ramjohn Stadium, Marabella tomorrow.

They begin their assault on the Intercol title next week against senior division champs Presentation College who ironically handed them their first and only defeat of the season on Saturday in the annual Turton/Osbourne Memorial match.