Discipline, injection of youth aid Police FC's fast TTPFL start

ONCE a bruising central midfielder, coach Todd Ryan is currently spearheading a Miscellaneous Police FC team which play a physical and enforcing brand, but also possess the players with dynamism in the final third who can put the hurt on opposing defences.

This approach has worked like a charm thus far for Police in the 2025/26 TT Premier Football League (TTPFL) tier one season, as they currently hold a two-point lead atop the standings ahead of reigning champions Defence Force (20 points), who have a game in hand on Ryan’s lawmen. Police have scored a joint league-high of 21 goals (same as Club Sando) from their nine games, while their lone loss so far this season came against their Defence Force rivals on November 9.

On Boxing Day (December 26), Police will aim to extend their lead when they meet a fourth-placed Prisons FC team, which started the season with five straight wins before enduring a bit of a lean spell.

For Police, Ryan said they built good habits before the start of the campaign with a more rigid and focused pre-season, while he also credits the addition of younger players such as midfielder Isaiah Hudson (25), right back Jardel John (23), winger Kelon Williams (20) and goalie Raheem Lee (25) for breathing new life and healthy competition into the squad.

“We wanted to kinda balance the international experience of some of our players with some young players who could learn from that experience, but yet still bring that energy and pace,” Ryan said, during an interview with Newsday on December 23.

In attack, Police have shared the love around as forwards Kwesi “Jep” Allen and Mickaeel Jem Gordon have scored four goals apiece, with tireless flanker Kadeem Hutchinson leading the team in scoring so far with five goals to his name. Veteran playmaker Joevin Jones has also chipped in with three goals, including a last-minute winner against Caledonia AIA on December 14.

And though Ryan says his team doesn’t necessarily have the presence of a natural number nine, he said the versatility of his attacking players has given him more wiggle room to tinker with the frontline.

“The mixture of Jem, ‘Jep,’ Kadeem and Joevin, who we are using out in the wide areas right now...even (Joshua) Sitney. It’s a combination of different goal scorers, so you might get a five-game hot streak from Kadeem, and then you’d get Jem to give five.

How we’re operating is that none of them have a starting position per se,” Ryan said.

“That’s what’s keeping the competition for places healthy. They know they have to be scoring, assisting or producing.”

With Lee filling in for the injured veteran Adrian Foncette in goal, his defensive line is not short on experience as players such as Elijah Belgrave, Kaydon Gabriel, Martieon Watson and Mekeil Williams are all at Ryan’s disposal, with the lanky Simeon Bailey offering protection in the middle of the park and Jabari Mitchell adding the creative spark.

Ryan doesn’t want to alter the team’s chemistry too much, but said Police might be on the lookout for a left-footed left back in the upcoming transfer window.

He reiterated that the main goal for his team this season will be to lock up a Concacaf Caribbean Cup spot via a top-two league finish, but he wouldn’t mind silverware either. “A successful season for us will be qualifying for the Caribbean Cup.

“But definitely, we’re a team that’s been around the top three for three to four years running. Most definitely, we want to put something in the (trophy) cabinet,” he said. “We want to win the league, but a successful season for us will be automatic Concacaf football.”

When the lawmen face their Prisons counterparts from 7 pm at the Sangre Grande recreation ground on Boxing night, Ryan wants an approach which will ensure the latter team doesn’t regain their early-season form. “Looking at Prisons, I personally find they are a fit team. They have a quality striker in Ricardo John. They have some nice players around the park, so they aren’t a team we’d take lightly,” the Police coach said.

“They were on a five-game streak where they didn’t lose a game.

“They met some of the so-called bigger clubs and struggled a little bit.

“We definitely don’t want them to get back on track with us, so it’s a game we’ll be taking very seriously.”

In the first game of the Sangre Grande double-header, FC Eagles will try to notch a second straight win when they meet the youthful San Juan Jabloteh team from 5 pm.