S L Horsfords St. Paul’s United maintained their lead at the top of the National Bank Group of Companies Premier League table with a 2-0 win over Honda Newtown United on Sunday March 24th at Warner Park, despite going down to ten men when Omar Francis was issued a red card late in the first half.
St. Paul’s have 12 points, winning all four of their Premier League matches thus far.
The goals came from Nicquan Phipps in the fourth minute and Kalonji Clarke in the 45th minute.
The St. Paul’s match was part of a rare triple header on Sunday; the first ending 6-0 to SOL IAS Conaree FC over Trafalgar Southstars; their first win of the season.
The goals came from Errol O’Loughlin in the 24th minute, Jahquan Hendrickson in the 28th minute, Byron Phillip in the 46th minute, Tijani Fahie in the 50th minute, Quanieki Clarke in the 64th minute and Shawn Martin (pk) in the 90th +3 minute.
The second match saw Flow 4G Cayon Rockets also earning their first win of the season with a come from behind to defeat Hotsprings Bath United 2-1.
Venreece Richards gave Bath United the lead in the 53rd minute before Cayon Rockets equalized 23 minutes later through Vinceroy Nelson. Five minutes later, Shaheem Prentice got the winner.
On Saturday March 23, SKELEC Garden Hotspurs and MFCR Old Road United Jets came to a goalless draw, while Development Bank St. Peters FC delivered a shocked 3-2 come from behind win against defending champions Rams Village Superstars.
Jayan Duncan (10th minute), Kadeem Rawlins (72nd minute) and Shavene Boston (89th minute) got the goals for Hotspurs while the St. Peters goals came from Joseph Wilkes in the 18th minute and Kimaree Rogers in the 52nd minute.
The National Bank Group of Companies Premier League continues on March 27th and 28th ahead of the Easter weekend.
The SKNFA Super Six Playoffs table is tight after this past weekend’s matches. One team is almost assured of a finals spot and four of the remaining five teams have a mathematical chance of being the next finalists.
Added to that, two of those teams, Conaree FC and Village Superstars are tied on six points with the same goal difference. The table makes each team’s final match of the round-robin phase very intriguing.
The drama all started on Friday night when Flow 4G Cayon Rockets defeated Newtown United 2-1. Devaunty Carty opened the scoring for Cayon in the 20th minute before a K’andre Wattley own goal 16 minutes later tied proceedings. Cayon’s winning goal came in the 90th minute through Kejorn Wattley.
Coach Al Edwards of Cayon, while happy with the win, rued his team’s missed chances.
“The last time we spoke, I said all we have been practicing is finishing and for the last three days that's all we have been doing; finishing, finishing, finishing," Edwards said. We were looking for a big win to boost our chances at even a third place or to squeeze in the final (two) but it didn't come tonight," he said.
Newtown Coach Anthony “Nets” Isaac felt a substitution of his goalkeeper in the latter stages of the match, with an outfield player, due to an injury to his goalkeeper and the unavailability of his starting custodian, changed the outcome of the match.
“It changed a lot for us.... we had to put in one of our better defenders in the goal just to replace the goalkeeper," lamented Isaac, who said his goalkeeper had his shoulder dislocated. His first-choice goalkeeper was unable to play due to an accident before the match.
Saturday saw one of the best matches of the playoffs so far between MFCR Old Road United Jets and SOL IAS Conaree FC.
Old Road took a very early lead in the 3rd minute through Loudajour Lewis before Conaree equalized seven minutes later through a Javern Matthew penalty. Wazim Hough gave Conaree the lead in the 26th minute before Old Road squared things up through Tiquanny Williams in the 37th minute. An Errol O’Loughlin strike two minutes before the half meant Conaree went in with a 3-2 advantage.
That lead lasted all the way to the 90th minute before Williams converted a penalty to tie the game at 3-3.
The game ended on a sour note, however, as four players were given straight red cards after the match ended prematurely due to a fight.
The red carded players were Iquon Frazer (Old Road), Tiquanny Williams (Old Road), Kadeen Lewis (Conaree) and Wazim Howe (Conaree).
Coach Al Richards of Conaree was hoping for a win but relished the point from the draw.
“I thought we should have won it…We gave up a penalty, which was a soft penalty. But nevertheless, the team held out for the draw,” Richards said.
In relation to the incident, the SKNFA issued a statement: “The SKNFA deeply regrets the unfortunate incident that occurred following an exceptionally competitive match—one of the season's finest. Such behavior has no place in the game we love and respect. Consequently, our disciplinary committee will convene to take decisive action, in line with our established bylaws.”
Action continued on Sunday when SL Horsfords St. Paul’s United and Rams Village Superstars played out a 1-1 draw.
After a goalless first half, Niquan Phipps gave St. Paul’s the lead in the 67th minute before Tahir Hanley got the equalize for Village in the 94th minute.
That match was marred by a serious injury to Diquan Johnson of St. Paul’s, who was taken by ambulance to the JNF Hospital. The incident led to a 23-minute delay. That delay affected how both teams approached the conclusion of the match, as explained by Coach Stephen Clarke of Village and Manager of St. Paul’s Derionne Edmeade. Clarke said he had to withdraw Hasani Flemming, the player who tackled Johnson when he sustained the injury.
“I had to take him out because he was very, very distraught. But besides that, we still had a game to finish,” he said. Edmeade said the injury impacted how his players finished the match. “I think that also took a toll on the mindset (of the players) as we tried to finish the game,” he said. Best wishes to Johnson as he is recovering from his injury.
All teams will have to wait a week to know their fate as we now enter an international break. The St. Kitts Senior Men’s National Team will bow into action in the Concacaf Nations League this Thursday at 7 p.m. against Guadeloupe at the SKNFA Technical Center.
Cayon Rockets maintained their position atop the St Kitts and Nevis Football Association Premier League following their 3-0 drubbing of MFCR Old Road United at Warner Park on Sunday.
Devontay Carty scored twice in the- 20th and 63rd minutes while Mervin Lewis sealed the victory with a third in the 68th.
Meanwhile, Bath United and Garden Hotspurs played to a 1-1 stalemate at the Nevis Athletics Stadium. Omarion Bartlette gave Bath the lead in the 13th minute. It was a lead they held until the 84th when Jeamaul Hodge pulled Hotspurs level to get a share of the points.
On Friday, a goal in each half led Security Forces to a 2-1 win over hosts Jones Group Sandy Point.
Everette Ritchen gave Security Forces the lead in the 30th minute. They held that lead until Zahmai Greene pulled Sandy Point level in the 65th minute. Parity didn’t last long as Donyelle Francis’ 70th minute goal gave Security Forces a rare win.
Meanwhile, Fast Cash Saddlers FC and St. Peters played to a nil-all draw, a result that Saddlers’ coach Samuel Phipps was happy to come away with.
“Picking up on point is good, we did not lose,” he said. “It was a fairly scrappy game but we came out with a point.”
St Peters’ boss Austin Huggins bemoaned his team’s missed chances.
“I think that we played well but too many chances went a begging,” he said. “We had chances to score, chances that I feel should have been goals, but we missed them; nevertheless, we’ve been able to get a point, looking forward to our next match.”
The weekend’s results, Cayon Rockets remain top of the table with 39 points after 16 matches while defending champions St. Paul’s United in second with 31 points, having played one game less. St Peters FC are third with 28 points with Old Road United Jets slipping to fourth with 27 points.
Village Superstars (24) and Conaree FC (24) are fifth and sixth, respectively. Newtown United has fallen to seventh on 23 points with Bath United just above the relegation playoff zone in eighth with 19 points.
Garden Hotspurs are in the relegation playoff spot with 16 points. The three regulation spots are occupied by Saddlers United, Security Forces, and Sandy Point FC with 12, nine, and two points, respectively.
Cayon Football Club made a clean sweep of youth football competitions, winning the Atiba Harris U15 and Keith Gumbs Youth U17 Cup competitions last week Sunday evening at the SKNFA Technical Center.
Saddlers United won the SKNFA Premier Youth Cup (U13) the day before, also at the Technical Center, defeating St. Paul’s United 1-0.
Village Superstars were the finalists in both U15 and U17 but succumbed to Cayon in both competitions.
Cayon won the U15 final 1-0 while their U17 counterparts secured a 3-0 win.
This is the first major competition being played at the SKNFA Technical Center, which is now lighted and able to host nighttime competitions and training exercises.
This was something SKNFA Technical Director Lenny Taylor pointed out during halftime of the U17 match.
“It’s a wonderful occasion today. We’ve seen two young teams, very enthusiastic. In an environment where it's wonderful; it’s the first game with the lights on and we are quite happy that we are able to expand the program a little bit further and play matches under the lights. For the last eight months, we have been dying to get this opportunity and it’s a wonderful opportunity for the young people,” Taylor said.
Mr. Taylor, prior to the start of the competition, pointed out the importance of the youth competitions to developing young footballers in St. Kitts and Nevis.
“The purpose behind them is to try to get the players as early as we possibly can, to start to culture them with the modern football which is necessary for them to play on a high level,” he said.
“We also can see the total population of players within the different age categories so that we can discover players that we do not know about; identify them and bring them into the system of the national team development program,” he added.
These competitions are a precursor to the various SKNFA Youth leagues, that will commence soon.
The Elvis Star Browne Women’s league commenced on Saturday with wins for Queen City and NAGICO Cayon Rockets.
Queen City crushed Garden Hotspurs 7-1 on Sunday at the SKNFA Technical Center in St. Peters.
Kerisha Powell was the star of the day for Queen City as she bagged four goals. She found the net in the 5th, 19th, 33rd and 66th minutes. The other goals came from Azyka Morton (27’), Kymoyan Grant (39’) and Devel Griese (63’).
Lakisha Davis scored a 78th minute penalty for Garden Hotspurs.
In Sunday’s second match, it took a last-minute stoppage time strike from Niclaire Sharry of the NAGICO Cayon Rockets to give the team a 3-2 win over Rams Village Lady Superstars.
Shekola Wilson gave Cayon the lead in the 16th minute before Olujede Bridgewater equalized for Village Ladies eight minutes before halftime. Five minutes later, Wilson struck again to give Cayon a 2-1 lead going into the interval.
The 53rd minute saw Bridgewater grab her second to make it 2-2 before Sharry struck Cayon’s winner in stoppage time.
On Saturday, MCFR United Old Road Lady Jets and Newtown United played out a 2-2 draw.
The side entered halftime locked at 1-1 after goals from Katelyn Forbes (15’) for Newtown and Leranja Wilkinson (31’) for the Jets.
With just under a quarter-of-an-hour to go, Zonia Marshall gave Newtown United the lead before Shinella McCalla equalized for the Jets in stoppage time.
The League continues on Thursday with Bath United playing Queen City at the Nevis Athletics Stadium at 7 pm. Then, on Saturday at 6 pm, Garden Hotspurs will play MFC Old Road United Lady Jets at the SKNFA Technical Center. On Sunday at 6 pm, Newtown United will play Rams Village Lady Superstars.
There were wins for Flow 4G Cayon Rockets, MFCR Old Road United Jets and S.L. Horsfords St. Paul’s United, as round two action continued Saturday and Sunday in the 2023 SKNFA Premier League.
Firstly, on Saturday, Flow 4G Cayon Rockets secured a 4-0 win over Security Forces.
Goals from Devontay Carty in the 27th minute and Carlos Bertie in the 30th and 33rd gave the Rockets a 3-0 lead at halftime before a Shaqkeem Butler 63rd minute strike completed the scoring.
In the other Saturday game, MCFR United Old Road Jets overcame a 0-1 halftime deficit to beat Newtown United 2-1.
Shaheem Prentice gave Newtown the lead in first half stoppage time before a double from Tiquanny Williams in the 51st and 55th minutes gave the Jets the win.
On Sunday, Fast Cash Saddlers and Sol Island Conaree played out a 1-1 draw.
After a scoreless first half, Tijani Fahie opened the scoring for Conaree in the 62nd minute before Navaldo Champagne equalized for Saddlers 12 minutes later.
Saddlers coach, Samuel Phipps, was pleased with his team’s performance, despite giving up a soft goal early in the second half.
“Unfortunately, we went behind again with what I think was a soft goal, but nevertheless, traits of a good team, we always come back and try to level the score so I am pleased with the guys and their performance,” Phipps said.
Coach Al Richards of Conaree was disappointed as he felt his team should have won the match.
“I am very disappointed today in giving up these points today. I think it was a game for us to win. We didn’t defend well the set piece from Saddlers and gave up a goal. This was a chance to go up the table, maybe to 4th position but we slipped it up again,” Richards said.
In Sunday’s second game, SL Horsfords St. Paul United secured a 2-0 win over Jones Group Sandy Point.
A 54th minute penalty from Keithroy Freeman and a goal from Diandre Challenger in the 78th minute secured the win after a scoreless opening half.
Manager of St. Paul’s, Austin Lewis, was not impressed with the performance of his team.
“The performance was not the best. I was not impressed with the performance today. I think we dropped our standard,” Lewis said.
Sandy Point player, Shaquan Pemberton, said the team played well but made a couple of mistakes, which cost them the match.
“I feel like the team played well today. Just a couple mistakes we made. Next time, we must come out and do what we do again,” Pemberton said.
On Friday, St. Peters FC scored a 2-1 win over Hobson Enterprises Garden Hotspurs.
St. Peters took the lead in the 30th minute through Shevene Boston. 52 minutes later, Spurs thought they rescued a point when Steve Archibald got their equalizer before St. Peters snatched victory five minutes later through Tyquan Terrell.
St. Peters Coach, Austin Dico Huggins, said despite this win, they still have a long way to go.
“The second round started today for us. We had a very interesting game…we had a training session yesterday and we were able to put some of the things that we did in training in order to be successful in the game. I think the game was very competitive and we managed to win the game. We are going to keep working because we have a long way to go,” Huggins said.
Assistant Coach of Spurs, Rohan Browne, said this result is disappointing.
“We worked hard to come back in the second half to equalize the game,” he said, calling the penalty call a “contentious” one.
“It’s disappointing and we worked hard,” he added.
In the earlier match up, Rams Village Superstars won by default as their opponent Bath United did not show up for the game.
Late goals from Raheem Davis and Mervin Lewis spurred league leaders Flow 4G Cayon Rockets to a come-from-behind 2-1 victory over MFCR Old Road United in their the 2023 SKNFA Premier League encounter at St. Paul’s on Saturday.
The win saw Cayon Rockets maintain their 100 per cent record and their place atop the league table this season while handing Old Road’s their first loss of the season.
After a goal-less first half, Kaylon Liburd had given Old Road the lead in the 56th minute. It was a lead that seemed likely to hold until full-time until Davis scored the equalizer in the 83rd minute. Lewis secured all three points for Cayon when he found the back of the net from the penalty spot, three minutes into stoppage time.
Assistant coach Valentine Anthony was elated at the outcome.
“We came out with the win, a very scrappy win, but nonetheless we came away with the win,” he declared afterwards.
“Our guys fought hard for 90-plus minutes and in the end, we scored a late penalty. Kudos to my guys for pulling it off.”
It was one-way traffic in the other match on Saturday as St. Paul’s United blanked Security Forces 6-0. Keithroy Freeman filled his boots with four goals scoring in the 4th, 38th sandwiching Vinceroy Nelson’s 30th minute strike as St Paul’s held the ascendancy at the interval.
Freeman would add goals in the 52nd and 77th minutes as Justine Soleyene’s own goal served to rub salt into Security Forces’ gaping wound.
Flow 4G Cayon Rockets defeated Honda Newtown United 2-0 on Monday in their rescheduled match in the St. Kitts and Nevis Premier League and move to the top of the table.
In the match played at the Newtown Sporting Complex, Carlos Bertie gave the visitors the lead in the 22nd minute. Malik Hendrickson added the second in the 39th minute that gave his side the three points and a spot atop the Premier League table on nine points.
Winning coach Al Edwards said victory was achieved because his team stuck to the game plan.
“We got early chances, scoring just two out of three or four. At half-time, we just wanted to be cautious, not too overly aggressive. Be careful, protect what you got,” he explained.
He said the strategy in the second half was to absorb pressure and try and get another goal. That plan changed, he said, when their main striker got injured. “It’s an overall good fight. Sometimes you have to (win) ugly, sometimes it can’t go all your way but you have (the points) and that’s what really matters.”
Newtown’s Anthony Nets Isaac said the team defended poorly in the first half but they responded well in the second half.
“In the first half we allowed the game to get away from us due to poor marking in the defensive area but we went in (at halftime), came back and totally dominated the second half of the game. It’s just that we didn’t get the goals we wanted,” Isaac said.
On Sunday, Hotsprings Bath United got their first win of the season when they defeated Fast Cash Saddlers 1-0 at the Warner Park.
Chris Browne scored in the 49th minute from a corner kick.
Bath’s Coach Alex Claxton was obviously elated at the result.
“We are very, very happy. We worked really hard for this win and I just want to congratulate the players in putting in the work in the course of the week and today it paid off,” Claxon said.
Meanwhile, defending champions S.L. Horsfords St. Paul’s United FC, came back from a slow start to defeat Jones Group Sandy Point FC 3-1 in the second of Sunday’s double header.
Anthony Alves put Sandy Point ahead in the 37th minute but the lead didn’t last long as Dion Taylor’s own goal in first-half stoppage time meant the teams went into the break locked at 1-1.
St Paul’s went ahead late in the second half when Keithroy Freeman netted in the 71st minute before Tahir Jefferson secured all three points when he scored a minute from full time.
Manager of St. Paul’s Austin Lewis said even though they won they are capable of playing better.
“I think we can do better. I think we displayed poor football today,” Lewis said.
Assistant Coach to Sandy Point Kenneth Douglas blamed his team’s mistakes for the loss. “I think that we are beating ourselves so we have to go back to the drawing board on the pitch and commit to certain decisions,” Douglas said.
Tiquanny Williams of MFCR United Old Road Jets was the star of the show Saturday night as he scored four goals to seal a 5-0 demolition of Security Forces FC at the Newtown Playing Field.
Jardel Isaac got the ball rolling when he scored in the 28th minute before Williams took over scoring in the 32nd, 40th,80th & 83rd minutes to complete the rout.
Williams’ four goals comes in the back of the hat-trick he scored last week, making him the leading goal scorer so far in the season.
Assistant Manager of the Old Road team Azariah Vanterpool praised the team for their performance and lauded Williams’ accomplishment.
“Today I would say they played a very good game. We started off a bit shaky but we started to play our own game and in the end we came out victorious,” Vanterpool said, adding that she expects more hat-tricks from Williams this season.
Meanwhile, Coach St. Clair Morris of Security Forces FC, said team preparation has been a challenge. “We are still trying to get our team together in a sense. We had a few challenges with players showing up for practice,” Morris said, adding that this has a lot to do with their work commitments.
In the night’s other match SOL IAS Conaree FC blew an early 2-0 lead in the first half to lose 3-2 to Rams Village Superstars. All the goals were scored in the first half.
Jahleel Warner put Conaree ahead just two minutes into the match and took a 2-0 lead when Kadeen Lewis scored from the penalty spot in the 14th minute.
However, Village would come storming back as Joseph Wilkes pulled one back in the 23rd minute and then Kimaree Rogers pulled them level five minutes later. Shaken, Conaree conceded a third just one minute later when Dahjal Kelly found the back of the net to secure the win.
Both teams had players sent off in the match. Village’s Kimaree Rogers was sent off in the 45th minute for serious foul play. Wazim Howe was shown the red card for violent conducts in the 50th minute.
After the match, Village’s Coach Stephen Clarke hailed the character of his team but said they must get better starts to games.
“If it’s one thing we preach about is starting the game slow. We really want to cut that out,” Clarke said. “We can’t keep doing it every game. At some point in time we have to come out in front.”
Conare’s coach Al Richards was disappointed with the loss but believes his team played well. “We started the game according to plan. We scored early, which we wanted but we made three defensive errors and that was it from there,” Richards said.
Only one match was played Friday night at the Newtown playing field.
Hobson Enterprises Garden Hotspurs and St. Peters FC played to a 1-1 draw.
Shervin Allen scored for Spurs in the 30th minute with his team dominating the first half. But in the second half, St. Peters rose to the occasion and dominated possession, pressing for the equalizer.
In the end, Shevene Boston scored a stunning strike from outside the area giving St. Peters a well-deserved equalizer.
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