Naparima manager: SSFL title in our hands

NAPARIMA College manager Percy Samlalsingh said the 2025 Secondary Schools Football League (SSFL) premier division title race is now theirs to lose after they reclaimed the lead on the 16-team table with a 1-0 victory away to the tenth-placed St Mary's College on Serpentine Road in St Clair on November 10.

With the result, Naparima (34 points) moved a point ahead of St Benedict's College (33 points) with just one game left in the campaign for both teams. Another southern school in Presentation College San Fernando (31 points) are currently third and also have one match left. Holders Fatima College are fourth on 29 points and also have one league game left, but now have no chance of retaining their crown.

After the scrappy win over the "Saints" on the road, Samlalsingh described the "Naps" performance as their worst of the season. However, the manager said it was all about results at this stage of the campaign and was pleased the team is back in the driver's seat after a late-season blip, which saw them getting just one point in a three-match stretch – including losses to Presentation and St Anthony's College.

"It's in our hands now. We have to win. We can't study what the other teams are doing. We just have to win our last game," Samlalsingh told Newsday.

"We lost, drew, lost and now we're back again. Teams will go through little patches. We didn't want to go through it this season, but it has happened. We just have to keep back on that winning record like the last couple of games and we look forward to that Signal Hill game."

The Angus Eve-coached Naparima team and their title-chasing rivals will have a wait before they could resume their race towards the premier division title, though, as Signal Hill (22 points) still have four games to make up before a November 27 meeting with Naparima on Lewis Street in San Fernando, while the early stages of the national intercol competition will also be contested in the intervening period.

"We'll have the national intercol to look at as well too because that's a knockout. If you have a bad day at the office, you're out."

With the solitary match to go in their league campaign, Naparima are on the cusp of getting a fifth premier division crown, having previously achieved the feat in 2014, 2015, 2018 and 2019. Samlalsignh praised the strides made by the team this season.

"It's better than last season. Last season, we finished seventh," the Naps manager said. "Where we're at right now, fighting for a title is a massive improvement, and we just look forward to trying to win back one trophy for Naparima College."