San Juan North rise to top of SSFL, Fatima, Naps lose

THE top two teams on the Secondary Schools’ Football League (SSFL) premiership table were unseated after round seven matches on Wednesday as both Fatima College and Naparima College suffered losses, while San Juan North climbed into pole position following a 2-1 victory over Trinity College East.

Fatima (16pts), who led the standings before kickoff, were downed 1-0 by visitors Presentation College San Fernando, courtesy of a 63rd-minute Levi Jones strike.

At Lewis Street Grounds in San Fernando, defending SSFL premiership champions and tenth-placed St Benedict’s College, rallied back from a two-goal deficit to shut out second-ranked “Naps” 3-2.

After a stop-start opening few minutes, Naps went ahead in the 25th via Josiah Cooper, who headed past La Romaine Lions’ custodian Thane Devenish, to send them 1-0 up.

Five minutes later, St Benedict’s had a chance to equalise but midfielder Josiah Ochoa shot overbar.

They were punished for the missed opportunity soon after as Naps’ forward Kanye Francis’s first touch beat his defender and allowed him to turn his body and rifle a right-footed shot into the left corner, to double their lead.

However, St Benedict’s halved their deficit just before the break as Jeremiah Niles latched on to a free ball at the back post and shot past Naparima goalkeeper Tyrese Romain.

It remained 2-1 at half-time. At the resumption, St Benedict’s showed more intent as Malacai Webb and Keanu Morean continued to threaten Naps’ slim advantage.

In the 66th, the 2022 winners thought they found the equalizer when Morean pounced on a mishandled ball by Romain, and scored. However, it was ruled offside, but these near misses ignited confidence. Two minutes later, they were rewarded for their efforts, this time from a free kick. Morean’s goal-bound shot might have been saved by Romain but a slight touch of the ball in the wall shifted its trajectory a bit and beat Naps’ custodian to level the score.

From then on, Naps never looked the part and St Benedict’s continued to press for a winner. A long ball from Anthony Williams was not properly cleared by Naparima’s back line, and it fell to Webb’s feet, who shot straight to Romain.

Romain was unable to gather the ball properly and a persistent Webb pounced on the loose ball and found the back of the net. The match-winning goal silenced the home fans but the visitors erupted.

Now on the back foot, Naps tried to claw back into it but their southern counterparts would not have it. The result meant that San Juan North moved into first position with 18pts while Fatima (16pts) and Naps (15pts) round off the top three.

Pres’ victory also saw them maintain fourth (14pts) position ahead of Saturday’s “South Clasico” against rivals Naps.

In other matches, Speyside (13pts) also held on to fifth position with a 2-1 victory over East Mucurapo. The Tobago team opened the scoring in the 35th minute from Omar Daniel and added another in the 87th, courtesy of Riquelme Phillips. But, East Mucurapo pulled one back in the 94th via Jadon McShine.

Arima North kept their sixth place with a 2-1 triumph against Malick Secondary.

St Anthony’s drubbed cellar-placed Pleasantville 6-1, St Mary’s squeezed past Bishop’s Tobago 3-2 while QRC thumped Chaguanas North 6-0.

Round eight kicks off on Saturday.