Nixon ‘double’ guides NE Stars

JERREN NIXON continued to remind the technical staff of the Trinidad and Tobago senior team that he is not yet over the hill. He gave this indication when scoring a “double” to guide North East Stars to a 5-2 thrashing of Arima/Morvant Fire at the Larry Gomes Stadium, Arima. In the T&T Pro League matchup on Sunday, back-to-back title holders CL Financial San Juan Jabloteh cruised to a 4-2 win over South West Drillers at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Mucurapo. The Sangre Grande-based North East outfit now have a tally of 39 points from 17 matches, with Jabloteh second with 33 points and W Connec-tion next on 32. Nixon put North East in front against the hosts after only four minutes of play, with veteran St Vincent midfielder Kendall Velox adding to North East’s tally in the 29th.

Elliot James pulled back one for Fire in the 34th but Kern Navarro restored North East’s two-goal cushion two minutes later. Both Nixon and Navarro compounded Fire’s misery, scoring in the 52nd and 82nd minutes respectively, before former national midfielder Romauld Aguillera got a late item for Fire in the 87th. Jabloteh were in for an early scare at the Hasely Crawford Sta-dium, Mucurapo as Ashley Adams put Drillers ahead in the eighth. But the San Juan unit, fielding basically a squad of former or current national players, got their act together in the second half, with midfielder Kerry Baptiste equalising in the 49th and defender Ansil Elcock putting Jabloteh 2-1 up in the 55th. Adams levelled the scores for Drillers in the 60th but Jabloteh will take the lead for good, with goals from midfielders Trent Noel in the 73rd and Stokely Mason in the 79th.

STANDINGS
 P W D L F A Pts
North East Stars 17 12 3 2 60 22 39
San Juan Jabloteh 16 10 3 3 40 11 33
W Connection 15 10 2 3 33 14 32
Starworld Strikers 16 8 4 4 38 21 28
Defence Force 16 7 4 5 27 24 25
Arima/Morvant Fire 18 6 3 9 30 30 21
South West Drillers 17 2 1 14 12 51 7
Tobago United 15 0 0 15 9 76 0