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Presentation College (San Fernando) will contest their second National Intercol final in three seasons, after a last gasp 1-0 win over Arima North Secondary yesterday evening at the Mahaica Sporting Complex in Point Fortin.
Goalless after 90 minutes, both sets of coaches might have been pondering the order of their penalty kickers when Presentation flanker Kaielle Elliott swung a deep free kick into the opposing area.
Photo: Daniel Prentice/ Wired868
Dial Dynamos goalkeeper Isaiah Diaz got both hands on the ball but fell back into his own goalmouth and across the line. Elliott claimed the goal. Diaz and his teammates complained bitterly that he was pushed over the line by opponents. And referee CJ O’Brien presumably tallied the decisive item as an own goal.
And hundreds of spectators at Mahaica asked: where is SportsMax when you need them?
(SportsMax, Wired868 understands, do not have fibre cables laid down at Mahaica and face a sizable bill to move infrastructure there for matches. So they deemed yesterday’s Intercol semifinal as too costly to pursue. And Diaz, replays showed, was not pushed into his goal; but simply misjudged his catch.)
Emotions spilled over at the final whistle, as Arima North defender Akil Henry was ejected for dissent while a Presentation supporter accosted Dial Dynamos defender Ezekiel Ramdialsingh, which prompted angry objections from the visiting bench—led by head coach Wayne Sheppard.
Photo: Daniel Prentice/ Wired868
By the end of the night, Arima players accepted an offer for doubles by the Presentation Alumni Tailgate crew and the two opposing head coaches, Presentation’s Shawn Cooper and Sheppard, were on friendly terms.
But it was a tense affair—spoiled, one way or the other, by a controversial late goal.
Arima North, who spent the last 12 years in the second and third division of the Secondary Schools Football League (SSFL), faced the “Pres Lions” on their return to the Premier Division on Wednesday 12 September 2023. That match finished goalless at the Arima Velodrome.
Yesterday in Point Fortin, the football was better between the two sides, but the result looked destined to be the same.
Photo: Brian Miller/ Arima Araucans Academy
The East Zone Intercol champions held on to the ball better and forced Presentation to abandon their early attempts at a high press. However, this rarely led to penetration with their front three of Jemaul Ashing, Tyrell Stapleton and Mark Thomas effectively kept at bay.
At the other end, Presentation had more attempts at goal and were the more aggressive team in the offensive third. But forward Adah Barclay and company lacked the guile to outwit the Arima defence, which was well marshalled by central defender Ability Hazel.
Penalties appeared inevitable and after 15 converted spot kicks in the East Zone final against San Juan North Secondary—with their lone miss coming from goalkeeper Diaz—Sheppard would not have been especially worried about that mode of deciding which team advanced to the final.
Photo: Daniel Prentice/ Wired868
But Elliott had other ideas in stoppage time. Or maybe it was Diaz who decided things, whether as martyr or malefactor.
Perhaps it was the fault of the referee and assistant Roshan Balliram.
It is history now. Another footnote in Arima’s unhappy trips to south Trinidad, like their infamous contest against St Benedict’s College at Skinner Park in 1991—when the east team were penalised for a crowd invasion in an away match that they were leading at the time.
Photo: Daniel Prentice/ Wired868
Arima’s 2023 season ended in Point Fortin. Presentation have a date with destiny at the Hasely Crawford Stadium in Port of Spain next Thursday.
(Teams)
Presentation College (San F’do) (4-2-3-1): 1.Kanye Lazarus (GK) (captain); 16.Micah Brathwaite, 5.Cody Cooper, 25.Tyrel Pemberton, 12.Duhrell Young; 6.Levi Jones, 3.Abayomi George; 7.Kaielle Elliott, 8.Nkosi Foncette (11.Isaiah Jacob 67), 10.Vaughn Clement; 15.Adah Barclay.
Unused substitutes: 28.Jerelle Thorne (GK), 2.Terrance Worrell, 9.Caleb Boyce, 14.Maliq Brathwaite, 17.Djibril Felix, 18.Josiah Bain, 19.Kwesi Seales, 20.Chaz Forde, 23.Gabriel Collins.
Coach: Shawn Cooper
Arima North Secondary (4-3-3): 1.Isaiah Diaz (GK); 3.Criston Gomez (33.Dimitre Jones 90), 22.Stephen Ollivierie, 16.Ability Hazel, 5.Akil Henry; 15.Darren De Four (30.Tyler Ayers 80), 13.Theron O’Brien, 11.Stephano Christopher; 17.Jemaul Ashing (captain), 9.Tyrell Stapleton (18.Zion Metivier 80), 7.Mark Thomas (29.Jaydon Critchlow 69).
Unused substitutes: 12.Josiah Thomas (GK), 6.Jeremy Joseph, 8.Armani Ceres, 19.O’Neil Dyer, 21.Ezekiel Ramdialsingh, 27.Agyei Des Vignes.
Coach: Wayne Sheppard
Referee: CJ O’Brien
Photo: Daniel Prentice/ Wired868
National Intercol semifinals
(Thursday 30 November)
Presentation College (San F’do) 1 (Kaielle Elliott 90), Arima North Sec 0 at Mahaica Sporting Complex;
(Friday 1 December)
St Anthony’s College v Speyside High, 4pm, Hasely Crawford Stadium;
Photo: Daniel Prentice/ Wired868
National Intercol finals
(Thursday 7 December)
Presentation College (San Fernando) v St Anthony’s/Speyside, 5.30pm, Hasely Crawford Stadium.
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TTT live online posted the goal on Facebook. Nobody touched the keeper. So the only controversy is in some people imagination.
First, you need to understand what the word “controversy” means.
You still salty lol. And J never tried to insult your intelligence in my comment. Be an adult now. You can comment without trying to insult ppl. In your other article, Wayne said he spoke to 2 trusted sources immediately after the game who said the goal was legit. Yet you wrote this article questioning the goal. Then Wayne said another two people, Cyrus and Brian Williams who he both consider reliable said the goal was good. So I don’t know what my understanding of the word controversy has to do with anything. Basically your keeper lied because he was ashamed of his mistake. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the southern hospitality and the doubles.
Go Pres!!!!!
Sounds more like an unfortunate goal than controversial goal unless there is evidence to support a claim that the referees and the assistant referees conspired to rob Arima or there was an issue with fading light that impacted their ability to adequately perform their tasks. Now if fading light was an issue then this should have been communicated at the point of occurrence and not after conceding a late goal to lose the game.
Based on reading a couple of game reports, it seems like Pres had the better of the exchanges and deserved to win based on their overall play. However, Arima North was definitely competitive and it is a tough way to lose a game especially conceding a goal that late with little time to get an equalizer.
Arima should be proud of their achievements this season after being out of the premier division for a few years. Based on the few Arima games I saw this season they have an extremely solid defense like their main competitors Pres, Fatima, and St Benedict’s. Attacking wise they were not as fluent as Fatima and St Benedict’s and probably their strategy was to play for penalties yesterday which there is no guarantee despite their 15-14 success over San Juan.
The Arima players should feel proud being a top 5 or 6 teams this season and assuming the coaching staff remains intact and have access to talented players they can be one of the top contenders next season.
Congrats to Pres. Shawn Cooper continues to show his coaching ability at the youth level and this season he is pulling off more 1-0 wins than Mourinho lol.
Controversial means giving rise to debate. And the goal sparked heated debate on the field and in the stands. Controversial does not mean that the complaining party was necessarily correct.