Soldiers secure crucial win to top table
Tue, 01/24/2017 - 12:00am
By:
Michael Phillips
THE Barbados Defence Force Sports Programme have taken a step in the right direction as they hope to reclaim the top spot in the Barbados Football Association’s Digicel Premier League. Playing their second game of the new season, the soldiers picked up points against bitter rivals University of the West Indies Blackbirds, tipping the scales in their favour early on as the race for supremacy gets under way.
The Blackbirds will feel the sting of Sunday’s 3-2 loss for the rest of the league unless they can regroup and repay the favour in the next round of games. Playing at the National Stadium in the night-cap game, UWI drew first blood in the 12th minute of play through the efforts of Corey Barrow. However, before the first half ended, the soldiers equalled and then surpassed their opponents. Rashad Jules drew things level in the 38th, while Rashad Smith knocked home the second five minutes later.
When the teams switched sides, UWI struck again with Barrow recording a brace after netting in the 63rd. Ten minutes later, a call by referee Adrian Skeete saw the Sports Programme awarded a free kick just on the edge of the box. Smith made no mistakes with it, sending the ball through the wall into the nets to tip the scales.
Also finding fortune in the league were Rendezvous FC, who bounced back from a miserable loss in their opening game against Weymouth Wales. Playing this time against Brittons Hill, Rendezvous recorded a 2-0 win with goals on either side of the break. Shandel Samuel got things started in the 10th minute, while Rashida Williams made the most of Brittons Hill being down to ten men and scored in the 76th.
The evening’s middle game saw Paradise and Wales leaving with a point each after a goalless draw.
The league is set to continue on Thursday at the National Stadium with a double-header. The first match will be a top-of-the-table clash as the Sports Programme take on second-placed Paradise at 7 p.m. The 9 p.m. game goes to Home Improvement and Hardware Supplies Waterford Compton United, who are hoping to break their two-loss streak, and Notre Dame.