Naparima College ease past East Mucurapo in strong SSFL start

DAVID SCARLETT

FOUR-time Premier Division champions of the Secondary Schools Football League (SSFL), Naparima College, got off to a perfect start as they cruised past northerners East Mucurapo 2-0 on match day one at Naparima College Ground, Lewis Street, San Fernando on September 11.

The match was threatened to be postponed due to East Mucurapo’s kit clash, as their strip was the same colour as Naparima’s blue home outfit. The match officials and the match commissioner improvised to ensure that the game kicked off – albeit 20 minutes late – by allowing East Mucurapo to borrow the home team’s grey away kit and flip the shirts so that “two Naparimas” weren’t on the pitch.

The flipped jersey decision made it difficult for fans and match officials to easily identify players, as the only way to do so was to watch the numbers on the players’ shorts.

When the match finally kicked off, both teams began the half slowly, seemingly feeling each other out before they launched an attack. The slow pattern of play made the hosts complacent and they passed the ball around the pitch without any clear chances on goal. East Mucurapo struggled to find their feet and spent the majority of the first half defending their penalty area. Their resounding effort got them to the interval with the score goalless.

However, Naparima switched gears at the beginning of the second half and came out with all guns blazing. Seconds after Akil Weekes whistled to signal the start of the second period, Naparima worked their way into the penalty area and created a crossing opportunity for Xarion France. But the mercurial attacker could not connect to the ball directed across the face of goal.

The hosts continued to press their opponents deeper into the attacking third and had several efforts on goal, but Zyan Sylvan remained untested in the East Mucurapo goal.

Naparima reaped the rewards from their attacking threat in the 52nd minute when Adasa Richardson provided a lay-off for Akiel Vesprey inside of the penalty area, and he blissfully placed the ball into the bottom left corner.

"Naps Ground" erupted in delight just five minutes later when substitute Donovan Drayton – minutes after being brought onto the pitch – delivered a left-sided corner-kick, which was deflected into the net by East Mucurapo defender Jalane Browne.

East Mucurapo were then deflated and showed little effort to get back into the game. The hosts took their feet off the gas pedal and focused on continuing to dominate possession.

The last major chance of the match came in the 86th minute when Kaliq Perez received a cross with him all alone in the penalty area, but he couldn’t adjust his body well enough to direct the ball between the posts.

At full-time, Naparima celebrated a 2-0 victory in front of their home fans, the perfect start to the long season ahead, and the perfect start for Reynold Carrington in his full first season as the head coach of Naparima College, as well as 2006 World Cup Soca Warrior, Densill Theobald, serving his role as assistant coach.