Caledonia completed a treble of knock out titles tonight with a 3-1 win over Defence Force in Lucozade Sport Goal Shield final at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Port of Spain.
The “Eastern Stallions” survived an early goalmouth scare to go ahead after just four minutes as right back Kareem “Tiny” Joseph converted a controversial penalty. Defence Force goalkeeper Kevin Graham clearly felt harshly treated by referee Michael Ragoonath after his challenge on Caledonia striker and former soldier Devorn Jorsling.
Richard Roy pulled the army/coast guard combination back into the game with a neat header off a Jahvon Neptune cross in the 40th minute. But Caledonia regained its advantage, four minutes after the restart, with a Jamal Gay header off a Jorsling corner kick.
And, a minute later, Guyanese international Walter Moore grabbed an insurance item after a clever assist from Makesi Lewis.
In the dying minutes, a spat between Jorsling and Defence Force defender Curtis Gonzales—a Trinidad and Tobago senior and junior international respectively—saw Ragoonath flash his red card at both men.
But the trophy was already earmarked for the Morvant/Laventille team by then and will be placed alongside the 2011/12 TTFF FA Trophy and the First Citizens Cup.
Lucozade Sport Goal Shield final:
Caledonia 3 (Kareem Joseph 4 pen, Jamal Gay 49, Walter Moore 50), D/Force 1 (Richard Roy 40)
Defence Force:
1.Kevin Graham; 29.Marvin Jones (10.Kerry Joseph 69), 5.Devin Jordan, 20.Rodell Elcock, 21.Aklie Edwards; 22.Curtis Gonzales, 15.Jerwyn Balthazar; 24.Jahvon Neptune (Capt) (39.Levi Serries 81), 30.Josimar Belgrave (7.Balondemu Julius 60), 17.Ross Russell Jr; 9.Richard Roy.
Unused Subs: 60.Sheldon Clarke, 2.Glynn Franklyn, 4.Christian Baptiste, 23.Dave Long.
Caledonia:
33.Zane Coker; 12.Kareem Joseph, 29.Radanfah Abu Bakr, 3.Nuru Abdullah Muhammad (24.Kemron Purcell 60), 4.Collin Nelson (25.Ataullah Guerra 51), 7.Stephan David (Capt), 9.Keyon Edwards, 14.Makesi Lewis, 15.Walter Moore, 23.Jamal Gay (11.Abdullah Phillips 71), 26.Devorn Jorsling.
Unused Subs: 34.Kevin Graham, 5.Aquil Selby, 10.Trevin Caesar, 13.Trayon Bobb.
Hard work pays off. The players and staff have been working extremely hard towards this. Well done Caledonia AIA. Good job by Jamaal Shabazz and Jerry Moe.