Jabloteh stay ahead of Connection

Jabloteh capitalised on an own goal, in the 71st minute by opposing captain Charles Pollard, to beat Caledonia AIA 1-0 while Connection won an entertaining encounter - by a 3-2 margin - over North East Stars at the Marvin Lee Stadium, Macoya Joe Public needed an equaliser in second half stoppage-time by Jamaican midfielder Wolry Wolfe to share the points against United Petrotrin, as both teams battled to a 1-1 draw at the Palo Seco Recreation Ground.

But the game of the day definitely took place at Tunapuna, as Connection maintained their unbeaten run — their last league defeat occurred on June 24 against Jabloteh — courtesy of a comefrom- behind triumph over a combative North East outfit.

North East had the game’s first chance to score, as Colombian Carlos Gonzales collected a pass from veteran Kevin Jeffrey and sent a cross into the penalty box which was almost headed home by another Colombian, Connection’s defender Eder Gilmer Aras.

Jeffrey had a hand in the game’s first goal, albeit against his team, as his weak clearance from Jose Luiz Seabra’s left-sided ball in the 14th minute saw the ball dropping at the feet of striker Teba McKnight who placed his rightfooted shot to the right of goalkeeper Andrew Durant.

Again Jeffrey was in the thick of things, in the 23rd, his freekick on the edge of Connection’s penalty box went overbar. But Jeffrey landed awkwardly on his right leg and was unable to continue.

Christian Viveros, one of four Colombians to feature in the game, could have put Connection 2-0 up at the half, as he got a through ball from Andre Toussaint, but he tamely hit the side-netting after getting around the despairing Durant.

That miss proved costly as North East tied the scores in the 52nd. Their defenders Gonzales and Brent Sancho stayed up in the Connection half from a previous play and, as the ball came their way, they indulged in a give-andgo with Gonzales drilling his low left-footer past goalie Marvin Phillip.

Phillip could do nothing to prevent North East’s go-ahead goal, with midfielder Leslie “Tiger” Fitzpatrick’s bending left-footed freekick landing at the bottom lefthand corner in the 61st.

Aras, who was at fault for the goal (his foul on North East’s captain Anthony Wolfe resulted in the freekick), made amends in the 73rd as he contributed to his team’s equaliser.

A deep ball from the bowlegged Aras was collected by McKnight on the left who found Dwight Scott and the ball was relayed to another substitute George Isaac. The St Kitts/Nevis captain saw his shot blocked by the defence and Toussaint slipped the loose ball to Hughton Hector who drove home his deflected right-footer off Brent Sancho and into the back of the net.

Four minutes later, Toussaint’s quickly-taken freekick to Isaac was diverted to Hector on the right and the midfielder returned the ball to the unmarked Isaac who tucked home his close-range effort. North East saw two late efforts from Gonzales and substitute Sylvester Teesdale hit the bar from close range but Connection’s unbeaten run remained intact.

Today’s trio of matches (Round Four Match Day Three) will feature Jabloteh against Joe Public at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Connection away to Petrotrin at Palo Seco and North East Stars versus Caledonia at the Marvin Lee Stadium.

All three games will each commence at five o’clock.