Intercol 25: Four penalties, four red cards and a protest; St Anthony’s, Signal Hill advance in thrilling zonal finals

There was crazy, exhilarating chaos at the Hasely Crawford and Dwight Yorke stadia yesterday as the North and Tobago zonal Intercol finals featured everything from goals and comebacks to penalty kicks, red cards and, naturally, controversy.

When the dust cleared, Signal Hill Secondary had kept the Tobago Intercol title from second tier challengers, Speyside Secondary, while Fatima College were dethroned by fellow Premier Division outfit, St Anthony’s College.

Implausibly, the first result was the bigger surprise.

Sure, Signal Hill, who finished third in the Premier Division, were overwhelming favourites at kickoff. But those odds were slashed when defender Jaquon De Four was sent off in the first minute of the game for hauling back a goal-bound Speyside Secondary attacker on the edge of the penalty box.

De Four’s rash decision was compounded when Jabari Roberts dispatched the free kick to put the “Country Boys” ahead. And Speyside—who have just won promotion back to the Premier Division via the First Citizen Big Five competition—built on their surprise lead too, as Achike Stewart scored off a corner kick at the half hour mark.

Signal Hill captain Ackim Duncan converted a penalty kick in the 44^th minute to halve the deficit. But when Ajani Stewart restored Speyside’s two-goal lead with a fine finish off a counter-attack, it looked like the fat lady was clearing her throat.

Stewart whipped off his jersey to celebrate what he must have thought was a defining moment.

Four minutes later, though, Signal Hill substitute Jahmiah Gibbes capitalised on a defensive blunder to reduce the arrears to 3-2. And then, remarkably, referee Keon Yorke pointed to the spot twice more in the last five minutes of the contest, with Duncan recording a hattrick of penalties to take Signal Hill over the line.

Astonishingly, each major Yorke decision—the three penalties and early red card (Speyside also suffered a late expulsion)—was above reproach.

“It is the first time in my life as coach that I ever experienced three penalties to the same team in the same game!” Signal Hill coach Downie Marcelle told Wired868.

Speyside goalkeeper Elijah Richards tripped opposing striker Kyle James for the first penalty, while he brought down defender-turned-midfielder Raevion Marshall for the second.

The third and final penalty was whistled after a handled ball in the area by a Speyside defender.

Incidentally, for the second penalty, Yorke initially reached for his red card to show to Richards—but then, noting that the infringement occurred in the 18-yard box, showed yellow instead.

Yorke was on top of his game.

Referee Shawn Gonzales, on the other hand, will have questions to answer on at least one of his big calls at the Hasely Crawford Stadium yesterday.

There were two dramatic red cards in the North Zone final as well, with the first also coming seconds after the opening whistle.

In this case, Fatima College forward Phillip Nelson, in an off-the-ball incident, swung his forearm at an opponent who he felt bumped aggressively into him twice. Fatima had not even made a single pass yet.

Gonzales, after consulting with a member of his officiating team, issued Nelson a red card for “violent conduct”.

St Anthony’s immediately seized upon the numerical advantage. Kanye Glasgow put the “Westmoorings Tigers” ahead in the sixth minute, with a left footed shot that squirmed under goalkeeper Jadon Pollard at his near post.

And, in the 27 minute, Kymani Thomas got a second item for St Anthony’s from close range, after Pollard parried a shot from Jaeden Bobb.

Fatima captain Seth Hadeed pulled a goal back for the Mucurapo Road-based school within seconds of the restart, before the game had a second bit of controversy.

Fatima substitute Jeremai Nanton drove into the box with St Anthony’s defender Malique Marshall giving chase. And, as the pair collapsed in a heap, Gonzales pointed to the spot.

What he did after was the debatable bit, though. Gonzales sent Marshall off with a straight red card for “denying an obvious goal scoring opportunity”—allegedly by holding Nanton.

According to the rules of the game: “where a player commits an offence against an opponent in their own penalty area which denies an opponent an obvious goal-scoring opportunity and the referee awards a penalty kick, the offender is cautioned if the offence was an attempt to play the ball or a challenge for the ball.”

The law goes on to state: “in all other circumstances (for example holding, pulling, pushing, no possibility to play the ball, etc), the offending player must be sent off.”

Gonzales clearly knew the rule. But whether he applied it fairly to the scenario was a different question.

Surely, Marshall was trying to win possession from Nanton and had not, as Gonzales implied, dragged back the striker without trying to play the ball.

“Both of them were challenging for the ball,” said a refereeing expert, who spoke to Wired868 on condition of anonymity. “If the referee had blown that outside of the box, it would have been a direct free kick at the most. We try not to give a red card and punish the team three times.”

St Anthony’s conceded a penalty, they lost a player for the remainder of the game, and now also do not have Marshall’s services for the National Intercol semifinal—three punishments for one clumsy but otherwise benign tackle.

Tigers coach Ronald Daniel confirmed that he has written to the SSFL Disciplinary Committee and asked for Marshall’s suspension to be rescinded.

“Maybe, okay, it was a penalty,” Daniel told Wired868, “but it should not have been a red card if he awarded the penalty… It was just an accidental bounce.

“I wrote a letter to the SSFL asking them to revoke that red card. I don’t know what would happen.”

St Augustine Secondary, who face Naparima College in tomorrow’s National Intercol semifinal match, are in a similar position and must wait until the day of the game to learn if a red card given to attacker Elijah Baptiste against Carapichaima East Secondary, by referee Jovann Peters, is overturned.

Daniel admitted that Nelson’s early expulsion changed the nature of the North final. But Fatima were able to draw level, regardless, thanks to Hadeed’s double.

The Tigers dusted themselves and scored twice more.

Attacker Aadil Jr Abdul-Hakeem and midfielder Adriel Faure combined neatly in an attacking move in the 66^th minute, as the ball was ushered to playmaker and captain Mordecai Ford.

And, as Ford drove the ball across the face of the Fatima goal, Faure was in the right place to slot home from point blank range.

Glasgow, the game’s first scorer, got the final goal in the 87^th minute with a lofted finish over Pollard from the edge of the area, after another Ford assist.

“The boys came out for the game and they played as expected,” said Daniel. “It has been an up and down season, but three quarter of my team is under-16. We have a young bunch but with a lot of ability going forward.”

Signal Hill whipped St Anthony’s 4-0 in Tobago when the two teams met in the Premier Division on 13 November. At the time, the Tigers had only pride to play for while their hosts were still in the title hunt.

Marcelle believes the St Anthony’s team they face in the Intercol semifinal round will be a different prospect entirely.

“When we played in the league, we won 4-0—but I understand they rested some key players because they played in an under-16 final the day before,” said Marcelle. “So, I am expecting a tricky encounter. Both teams like to play attacking football too, so I expect an entertaining game.”

Signal Hill are brimming with confidence themselves, after their dramatic triumph yesterday.

“They (the Signal Hill players) were awesome and stuck to the task,” said Marcelle. “To still dominate the game and create more goal-scoring opportunities than your opponent, despite being down to 10 men from the first minute—I think it shows we are at a different level at this moment.”

The Signal Hill Girls team also picked up their zonal crown with a 3-0 win over Bishop’s High while St Joseph’s Convent (Port of Spain) mauled Holy Name Convent (Port of Spain) 7-0, with doubles from Sydney Pollard, Kaitlyn Darwent and Kara Cooper.

East champions Five Rivers Secondary face the Signal Hill young ladies next on Sunday, while St Joseph’s Convent and Pleasantville Secondary square off in the other Girls Intercol semifinal.

With six days left until the National Intercol finals, the temperature is rising.

Intercol results

(Wed 3 Dec)

Signal Hill Sec 3 (Leia-Marie Balfour 24, Alliyah Baptiste 57, Shaquana Brown 80), Bishop’s High 0 in Tobago Girls final at Dwight Yorke Stadium;

Signal Hill Sec 4 (Ackim Duncan 44 pen, 85 pen, 90+2 pen, Jahmiah Gibbes 74), Speyside Sec 3 (Jabari Roberts 2, Achike Stewart 30, Ajani Stewart 70) in Tobago Boys final at Dwight Yorke Stadium;

*–Red cards: Jaquon De Four (Signal Hill), Ryan George (Speyside)

St Joseph’s Convent (POS) 7 (Sydney Pollard 12, 75, Kaitlyn Darwent 16, 48, Kara Cooper 27, 31, Scarlett Cole 34), Holy Name Convent (POS) 0 in North Girls final at Hasely Crawford Stadium;

Fatima College 2 (Seth Hadeed 46, 48 pen), St Anthony’s College 4 (Kanye Glasgow 6, 87, Kymani Thomas 27, Adriel Faure 66) in North Boys final at Hasely Crawford Stadium,

*–Red cards: Phillip Nelson (Fatima), Malique Marshall (St Anthony’s College).

Upcoming fixtures

(Fri 5 Dec)

Naparima College v St Augustine Secondary, Boys National semis, Ato Boldon Stadium,

(Sun 7 Dec)

Five Rivers Secondary vs Signal Hill Secondary, Girls National semifinal, 3.30pm, TBA.