East San Juan defend zone f/ball

EASTERN Football Association champions Samba Xtra Malt East San Juan United are blaming their recent heavy defeat by W Connection on lack of proper equipment.

East San Juan were beaten 11-0 in their national FA Trophy match at the Ato Boldon Stadium, Couva. Later, Connection administrator Raymond McLean said his team was sending a clear message that the standard of football in the TT Pro League was of a much higher quality that that of the regional associations. According to East San Juan  manager John Martin, however, his team was affected by two incidents. First, the equipment manager, a policeman, was called away at short notice to emergency duty and could not make it to the match venue. Martin said this left his players without proper uniforms and other equipment, and since the fixture was in Couva, it made it impossible for them to get their proper kit.

The Samba manager said his players had to resort to jerseys given them earlier in the season, and this amounted to just ten. He pointed out that during the match, East San Juan could not use substitutes because of  the jersey problem, and to add to their woes, two players were injured leaving them to play a great portion of the match effectively with nine men. Martin said, added to their equipment problems, there was the terrible weather conditions in Central Trinidad where there was much flooding, which made it very difficult driving to the Ato Boldon Stadium venue. “These events undoubtedly affected the performance of East San Juan United and the outcome of the match,” he said.

The East San Juan manager said it was unfortunate officials from W Connection could use a match played under such circumstances to assess the quality of football in the zones. And he pointed out that only two years ago a zonal team almost won the FA Trophy, and  another made it to the semi-finals in the same year, while EFA mid-table team TSTT came close to eliminating a TT Pro League team.