Naps maintain purple patch with 8-0 caning of Chaguanas

For the final 10 minutes, passionate Chaguanas North Secondary supporter Germain Raymond’s horn was silent. There is probably be no higher praise than that for any football team that travels to the New Settlement Ground in Chaguanas.

A Nicholas Dillon hattrick plus items from Jabari Mitchell, Martieon Watson, Jeremiah Kezar, Aalon Minors and Isaiah Hudson added up to an almighty caning for the host team as Naparima College romped to an emphatic 8-0 win in the mud.

The result kept “Naps” on top of the SSFL Premier Division albeit with a one point advantage over second placed St Anthony’s College and third placed San Juan North Secondary.

Elsewhere, the “Westmoorings Tigers” snapped a three-game losing streak with a 6-1 mauling of Fatima College at the St Anthony’s school ground while, at the Fatima College ground, San Juan North Secondary contained to stalk the traditional powerhouses with a 2-0 win over East Mucurapo Secondary.

Brent Sam was up to his usual tricks with a double, which extended the former national under-17 striker’s scoring streak to five successive games. He has scored nine times in that stretch including goals against St Anthony’s, Shiva Boys HC, Presentation (San Fernando) and St Mary’s College.

Naparima knows a thing or two about a purple patch too. And it meant bad news for the Chaguanas North boys in mauve shirts and pants.

The New Settlement football ground is an unfenced field squeezed between four roads. It is the very definition of a community ground, which means you could stop to watch the game while strolling to the parlour or, if you live in a two-storey house, follow the action without leaving your yard.

Naps were not in a communal mood today though. These schoolboys meant business.

Dillon, a 17-year-old man-child and Form Five student, was the chief executioner. Chaguanas could not match his pace, power and precision.

Naparima already led 2-0 at the half, following items from Mitchell, another national under-20 player, and Dillon. But, when Dillon got going in the second half, there was no stopping him.

“Come on Chaguanas North!” yelled Raymond, as she tooted her horn. “Allyuh not putting pressure on the ball!”

Bang! Dillon rifled into the corner from the edge of the opposing penalty area in the 46th minute; and the ball flew past Chaguanas custodian Aaron Best before he could twitch.

“What is that?” Chaguanas left back Carim Kellar asked his goalkeeper in an accusing tone.

“It’s not (on) me,” Best retorted. “How is that (on) me?”

Best picked the ball out from the back of his net again in the 64th minute as Dillon nodded across the line from four yards after a precise left side cross from Naparima flanker Isaiah Hudson.

“Come on allyuh!” roared Raymond. “Play like allyuh want it!”

In fact, Chaguanas did have a player capable of going toe-to-toe with anyone in a Naparima jersey, which is no faint praise considering the talent in the southern line-up. The problem was that 16-year-old Malik Campbell, a six foot-plus twinkle-toed midfielder, wanted to take them all on at once.

And, although Campbell usually beat the first man and sometimes the second, how far could he get with his solo efforts when his direct opponents in midfield were the national under-20 pair of Martieon Watson and Mitchell?

In the 75th minute, Campbell danced one player and dragged the ball past Watson before going down under a shoulder challenge from Stephon Smith in the Naparima penalty area. There was a hopeful shout from the Chaguanas bench but that was as good as it got for the host team.

A frustrated Campbell responded to the embarrassment of his impotence with a flying tackle through the mud that chopped down Dillon. Referee Jeeva Hosein flashed a yellow card. Dillon flashed a broad smile and did a dance in the mud to show his durability.

Chaguanas coach Nicholas Griffith might have started praying for the final whistle at this point.

It got worse still in the 78th minute as Chaguanas flanker Mattias Williams was shown a straight red card for a studs-up challenge on Jordan Samuel.

By then, Raymond had started blowing her horn for Naparima misses.

“If I don’t blow when they make a mistake,” she explained to an observer, “I wouldn’t have anything to blow for.”

The horn finally fell silent altogether in the last ten minutes as Naparima plundered another four goals against ten players.

Dillon, it turned out, was human after all; he was substituted in the 80th minute with a minor muscle injury. Right back Nicholas Thomas hobbled off too and he and Dillon were replaced by Naparima under-16 players.

It summed up the evening for the two teams when both under-16 players promptly scored. Kezar punished a Kellar error with a drive into the far corner while the pocket-sized Minors scored with a stooping header into an empty net after Best completely missed a straightforward Mitchell cross.

No one had the heart to argue with the goalkeeper anymore.

Watson and Hudson completed the score summary with close range finishes as Naparima, led by assistant coach Travis Mulraine, gave another emphatic display of their firepower. Naps should have a sterner test of their title credentials on Tuesday when they host Trinity College East in Lewis Street, San Fernando.

And what about the shell-shocked Chaguanas North?

Campbell and company slipped into 12th place and relegation territory with today’s loss as they have a worse goal differential than 11th place Fatima. The bottom three of the Premier Division’s 14 teams will be relegated.

Chaguanas North travels to Mucurapo on Tuesday to face Fatima and coach Griffith must extract his players’ maximum concentration for that fixture if they want to stay in this division.

They might not want to look further down the road in any case. Chaguanas is due to play St Anthony’s College in Westmoorings next Saturday.

(Teams)

Naparima College (4-2-3-1): 25.Akeem Awong (GK); 2.Nicholas Thomas (29.Jeremiah Kezar 69), 19.Stephon Smith, 4.Amritt Gildharry (captain), 3.Khris Stroud; 6.Martieon Watson, 11.Shane Sandy (15.Jordan Sandy 55); 33.Isaiah Hudson, 34.Jabari Mitchell, 8.Michael Basdeo; 20.Nicholas Dillon (14.Aalon Minors 80).

Unused substitutes: 30.Enrique Changiah (GK), 12.Jarred Dass, 18.Ocean Gayah, 28.Shobal Celestine.

Coach: Travis Mulraine

 

Chaguanas North (4-1-4-1): 22.Aaron Best (GK); 14.Isaiah Cadogan (13.Keston Boyke 46), 5.Chad Paul, 45.Horatio Charles, 18.Carim Kellar (80.Quisnel Gittens 88); 12.Marcellus Pacific (99.Jesse Frank 13); 19.Nicholas Patrick, 11.Phillip John, 77.Malik Campbell, 9.Mattias Williams [Red card 78]; 7.Lewis Johnson.

Coach: Nicholas Griffith

 

Referee: Jeeva Hosein

 

SSFL Premier Division results

(Sat Oct 4)

Chaguanas North 0, Naparima College 8 (Nicholas Dillon 20, 46, 64, Jabari Mitchell 30, Martieon Watson 80, Jeremiah Kezar 84, Aalon Minors 86, Isaiah Hudson 89) at Chaguanas;

St Anthony’s College 6 (Kwesi Allen 32, Matthew Woo Ling 60, 71, 91, Andrew Rullow 63, Raheem Borde 75), Fatima College 1 (Marquise Hoyte 44) at St Anthony’s;

St Benedict’s College 1 (Mariba Des Cartes 74), Shiva Boys HC 2 (OG 69, Levi Garcia 90 pen) at La Romaine;

Trinity College East 1 (Sean Bonval), St Augustine 1 (Kwinci Williams) at Trincity;

Presentation (San F’do) 1, St Mary’s 0 Guaracara Park;

East Mucurapo 0, San Juan North 2 (Brent Sam [2]) Fatima;

Carapichaima East 2 (Larry Brown 5, Daryan Thomas 40), Arima North 1 (Mulick Mitchell 30) at Carapichaima;

 

Upcoming fixtures

(Tue Oct 7)

Shiva Boys HC v Arima North, 3 pm, Guaracara Park;

Presentation (San F’do) v St. Anthony’s, 5 pm, Guaracara Park;

Fatima College v Chaguanas North, 3.45 pm, Fatima;

St. Mary’s College v East Mucurapo, 3.45 pm, St. Mary’s;

Naparima College v Trinity College East, 3.45 pm, Lewis St, San F’do;

San Juan North v St Benedict’s College, 3.45 pm, San Juan;

St Augustine v Carapichima East, 3.45 pm, St. Augustine.

 

Editor’s Note: During the week, a member of the Naparima coaching staff told Wired868 that Nicholas Dillon was a Form Three student. That apparently turns out to be incorrect.
Percy Samlalsingh, the Naparima College team manager and student alumni VP of the student alumni, has informed Wired868 that Nicholas Dillon is in Form Five.
So we apologise for that misinformation, although we did try to verify the initial report. Thanks for your understanding.