Action between St. Peters and Sandy Point.
SKNFA
St. Peters FC continued their impressive winning run in the 2023 SKNFA Premier League, racking up their 6th consecutive win after coming from behind to defeat Jones Group Sandy Point FC 2-1 on Sunday at Warner Park.
Sandy Point took the lead through T'Ondre Rouse in the 7th minute before Shomari Hanley equalized for St. Peters 10 minutes before halftime. Shevene Boston got the winner in the 69th minute.
In the second match of Sunday’s doubleheader, MFCR Old Road United Jets and Rams Village Superstars drew 1-1. Jardel Isaac got the goal for Old Road in the 9th minute before Dahjal Kelly equalized for Rams Village in the 22nd minute.
With this weekend’s results, Cayon Rockets remain at the top of the table, but only by three points as defending champions S L Horfords St. Paul’s United have narrowed the gap.
Cayon has 33 points from 14 matches while St. Paul’s United has 30 points. St. Peters are among the biggest movers as they are now in 3rd spot with 27 points after racking up six consecutive wins.
Old Road Jets remain in 4th with 24 points, Newtown United in 5th with 22 points, and Village Superstars in 6th with 21 points. Conaree FC are in 7th with 20 points and a game in hand, Garden Hotspurs are in 8th with 15 points, and Bath United is in 9th with 15 points.
In the relegation zone are Saddlers FC, Security Forces FC, and Sandy Point FC with 11, 5, and 2 points respectively.
Hat-trick hero Keithroy Freeman led S L Horsfords St. Paul’s to a 4-0 victory over Fast Cash Saddlers United on Saturday in the first 2023 SKNFA Premier League fixture to play on the island of Nevis. The match was the first of a doubleheader at the Nevis Athletics Stadium in Long Point.
Freeman’s goals came in the 45th, 46th and 79th minutes while the fourth goal came through Keshorne Warde in stoppage time.
Taju Clarke, a player with St. Paul’s, said the team prevailed despite not playing their very best.
“The performance you saw today was an overall good performance because we scored four goals and kept a clean sheet. There were instances when the game dropped off but our team, even though we fall off, we can regroup and score as many goals as possible,” he said before noting that the approach going forward would be to take it one game at a time.
He also had high marks for the Nevis Athletics Stadium as a venue for Premier League matches.
“The field is much better than most fields…despite it being open…it’s still a good venue,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Coach of Saddlers United, Samuel Phipps, suggested the performance of his team was below par.
“It was a really bad off day for us today. We lost 4-0. Nevertheless, I have to thank the guys for trying their best but again we gave up a soft goal just before halftime, and as soon as the second half began we gave up another soft goal, and that has been the trend since the first round. It was a tough loss,” Phipps said.
Meanwhile, Bath United eked out a 1-1 draw with league Leaders Flow 4G Cayon Rockets in front of a Nevisian crowd for the first time this season.
After a goalless first half, Malik Hendrickson gave Cayon the lead in the 74th minute before, eight minutes later, Jalden Myers converted a penalty to level proceedings.
Cayon Coach, Al Edwards, said the match was a tale of two halves.
“In the first half, we got frustrated and went away from the game plan. At half time we were able to look at some of the points that we needed to do and controlled much of the second half. The second half really belonged to us but we weren’t able to create much of the opportunities that we wanted,” he said, noting that it’s back to the drawing board for their next match.
Coach Alex Claxton of Bath said it was important that the team picked up results from this match in front of the Nevisian fans.
“I think that it was very, very important that we pick up points from this game, knowing that it’s our first game at home,” he said. “This is something we were looking forward to and we are happy with the turnout and we wanted to make sure we didn’t disappoint our fans and our supporters,” he said.
The matches on Friday between Security Forces FC and Hobson Enterprises Garden Hotspurs and SOL IAS Conaree FC and Newtown United both ended in 0-0 draws.
Nottingham Forest 0-2 Manchester City: Haaland back on the goal trail as defending champions march on
Erling Haaland returned from injury to keep Manchester City’s title charge on track as Pep Guardiola’s side secured a 2-0 victory over relegation-battling Nottingham Forest.
Josko Gvardiol’s near-post header was all that separated the two sides at half-time as he fired City in front from a Kevin De Bruyne corner.
Forest were left to rue big opportunities missed in the opening 45 minutes, with Chris Wood and Murillo both having gilt-edged chances to find an equaliser at the City Ground.
But Guardiola, overseeing his 300th Premier League game as City boss, called upon Haaland in the second half, and the Norway international duly delivered to double City’s lead and nudge the reigning champions back to within a point of leaders Arsenal, who beat Tottenham earlier on Sunday.
It was almost a dream opening minute for Forest as Ola Aina’s floated cross to the back post was met by an unmarked Neco Williams, but he failed to connect properly with a close-range shot.
Forest were made to pay when City opened the scoring in the 32nd minute. De Bruyne’s excellent delivery found Gvardiol, who powered a header home at the front post.
Wood should have restored parity shortly after, as he found himself in acres of space when Gonzalo Montiel cut it back on the volley, but the ball got caught up in the striker’s feet with the goal at his mercy.
Forest went agonisingly close again on the stroke of half-time, with Ederson – who was subsequently taken off at the break – fortunate not to concede after he failed to deal with Callum Hudson-Odoi’s corner, but Murillo could not apply the finish a few yards out.
Wood saw another huge chance pass by early in the second half, but his close-range effort was blocked after some excellent work from Anthony Elanga down the left.
De Bruyne showed his creative spark once again as he slotted a throughball behind the Forest defence in the 63rd minute, but Julian Alvarez’s effort from the edge of the area flew into the stands behind the goal.
Matz Sels was called into action moments later, palming behind De Bruyne’s thunderous long-range strike, which was heading for the top-left corner.
But City’s second finally arrived when, in the 71st minute, De Bruyne teed up Haaland, who calmly got the better of his marker, shifted it onto his right foot and slotted into the bottom-left corner to end Forest’s hopes of a comeback.
While City remain hot on Arsenal’s heels, Forest stay just one point above the relegation zone, having lost three of their last four matches.
Guardiola – 300 not out
Sunday marked Guardiola’s 300th Premier League game in charge of Man City, seeing him become the 19th manager to reach this total, and just the fifth to do so for a single club.
Of the 300 games under the Spanish manager’s tutelage, City have won 221, scoring 741 goals in the process, while only conceding 247 times.
City now have a four-point lead over Liverpool, whose title hopes are fading quickly, and an unprecedented fourth straight Premier League crown is certainly on the cards for Guardiola.
Forest’s recurring issues show no sign of abating
Nuno Espirito Santo’s side have now conceded 29 first-half goals in 35 league games this season, with only Sheffield United (38) and Burnley (30) having conceded more.
The Tricky Trees – who are one of three teams fighting for 17th place after Everton hauled themselves to safety over the past week – have also conceded 23 goals from set-pieces this term in the competition, at least five more than any other team.
Despite being behind at the break, Forest’s xG of 1.27 was the most by any side in the first half of a game against City this season, in all competitions, with a wastefulness in front of goal another glaring problem that Nuno must fix.
Lyon are through to their 11th Women's Champions League final after sealing a 5-3 aggregate victory over compatriots Paris Saint-Germain.
The record eight-time winners scored three times in the final 10 minutes of last week's first leg to take a narrow 3-2 lead into the return fixture at Parc des Princes.
However, they were quicker out of the blocks in the second leg, with just three minutes on the clock when Selma Bacha drilled home from range for her first Champions League strike in five-and-a-half years.
Tabitha Chawinga responded before the break to reduce PSG's aggregate deficit to a single goal, but Melchie Dumornay put the tie beyond doubt nine minutes from time, as Sonia Bompastor's side set up a final showdown with Barcelona on May 25.
Data debrief
Lyon continued their dominance over PSG in Champions League semi-final encounters, having now progressed from each of their last four such ties.
The eight-time champions lost their first two semi-finals they contested in this competition, but have now won each of the last 10, and will seek a record-extending ninth title in Bilbao next month.
Inter's 'leader' Inzaghi upping the standards, says assistant Farris
Simone Inzaghi has set and maintained high standards at Inter, so says his Nerazzurri assistant Massimiliano Farris.
Inter clinched their 20th Serie A title by beating fierce rivals Milan in Monday's derby.
That meant that Sunday's home meeting with Torino was something of a celebration for Inter and their fans, and the team delivered with a 2-0 victory.
Hakan Calhanoglu scored both of Inter's goals, and Farris, who spoke to the media instead of his boss, piled the praise on Inzaghi.
In quotes reported by Football Italia, Farris told DAZN: "We've tried to build a positive environment. We lost important players [last summer], but we welcomed important players who made themselves loved.
"Going to the pitch and working this season was a pleasure. We had a lot of fun and it's the players' merit.
"We are Inter, we have great value, and we couldn't afford to lose games like we used to. He's our leader, he kept a high bar in difficult moments.
"Today, we are repaid for everything, and we can enjoy more of what happened in the previous two years. In football, defeats [hurt] more than victories, but now we must enjoy this moment."
With victory over Milan, Inzaghi became the second-fastest coach to reach 600 points in Serie A, after Carlo Ancelotti.
Farris added: "Simone already said it in the previous interviews. We’ve been fighting for every target across the last three years. We have won cups, we reached a Champions League final.
"We are aware that in the first season, we missed something that we could have taken home [the title].
"Perhaps it was the price to pay, as staff members, when you get to a club like this, but I think this season's achievements give value to all other trophies.
"Today's atmosphere was incredible, so good. Ninety minutes and more of celebrations and it was fair to start those who have brought the team here. This doesn't mean the others didn't contribute. On the contrary, everyone was helpful, I should name them all. I wouldn't even call them reserves."
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