No linesmen as Fire burn Tobago 7-0

STRIKER ALVIS Faure netted a beaver-trick while Trinidad and Tobago player Densil Theobald, Handel Manswell and Dale Simon chipped in with one apiece as Arima/Morvant Fire trounced Tobago United 7-0 in a rescheduled 11th round T&T Pro League match on Monday. But the sparse crowd at the Larry Gomes Stadium, Arima, were witness to a shocking lapse of communication between the Pro League and the Trinidad and Tobago Football Referees’ Association, which saw only one official Shane De Silva doing duties and two spectators forced as make-shift linesmen. Nonetheless, the match was played and, after eight minutes, Fire opened the scoring when a Manswell’s left-side cross was met by Faure whose deflected header, off the body of defender Johnan Roberts, trickled into the net. Faure missed two close-range opportunities in the 16th and 22nd minutes but Manswell increased Fire’s lead in the 23rd.

Sellon Gray, sent clear by Theobald on the left, found Manswell inside the penalty area and the Tobago-born striker placed his acrobatic right-footed shot beyond the reach of goalkeeper Joel Harry. Tobago’s forward Garth Woodley had his 28th minute blast rebound off the uprights but Fire maintained control, and went further ahead in the 37th, as Faure latched on to a back-pass by Joel Alleyne and sent his right footer past Harry.

Faure would complete his hat-trick on the stroke of halftime, collecting a diagonal ball from the left by Manswell, he blew past Roberts and rifled his shot home. Theobald netted Fire’s fifth in the 64th, hitting a loose ball into the vacant goal after Harry failed to hold a left-side cross from substitute Hayden Brathwaithe while, on a counter-attack following a Tobago corner in the 72nd, Faure got his fourth goal when he made a long run at the defence and hit past the hapless Harry.

Both teams missed a series of chances thereafter but the goalspree ended in the 90th when Simon converted a penalty after Faure was brought down by Kervin Waldron. Waldron had the dubious distinction of receiving the match’s only caution, after Faure was sent clear by substitute Abdullah Phillip. Action in round twelve will be contested from 5 pm today with leaders Starworld Strikers facing defending champs CL Financial San Juan Jabloteh at the Manny Ramjohn Stadium, Marabella. Fire will travel south to the Palo Seco Recreation Ground to meet South West Drillers, Tobago United will host North East Stars at the Dwight Yorke Stadium, Bacolet and, at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Mucurapo, Defence Force will clash with W Connection.