THE Marchand Football League (MFL) kicked off the 22nd edition of the Parliamentary Representative for Castries East Philip J. Pierre sponsored football competition last Monday with four matches played at the Marchand Grounds.
Despite a 45 minute late start, due to unforeseen circumstances, the fans who came out to support never regretted the showpiece.
In game one, Big Players Youth Team coached by former national player, Alvin Xavier defeated Flames United Youth 3-1 in an exciting encounter.
Flames United Youth goalkeeper No.1 Cyprian Servauis saved his team from what would have been a humiliating defeat. Cyprian was in the thick of things early in the first half when he came up with three brilliant saves; his opposite, Big Players Youth custodian No. 1 Jahel Francis was not left out of the equation as he too was also outstanding between the uprights.
For Big Players Youth, the goal scorers were No. 13 Adrian Valcin in the 20th minute, No. 9 Kevin Francois in the 24th (penalty kick) and No. 7 Kymani St. Rose in the 28th.
No. 11 Montel Carasco pulled one back for Flames United Youth in the 27th minute.
In the second encounter played, Marchand Veterans currently preparing to participate in the 10th edition of the Veterans Football Tournament in a few days time was made to work hard for their 1-0 win over B1 Youth, a goal by Darnel Poyotte in the 30th minute.
B1 Youth can keep their heads high going into their next encounter as they played an outstanding game against a more experienced team with the likes of Alvin Xavier, Wayne Felicien, Andre Antoine (goalkeeper) and Ian Sylvester in their lineup.
In Game 3, a one sided affair, B1 FC made light work of Flames Veterans defeating them 6-0.
The goal scorers were – Andrus Remy in the 65th and 75th minute; Alton Joseph in the 20th minute; Malkin Remy in the 68th minute and Dwight Poleon in the 73rd minute.
The match of the evening between defending champions Big Players FC and Pavee United did maintain the hype and publicity from the Thursday night official launch when the draw was made.
The persistent drizzle leading into the final encounter, did not deter the many football fans from coming to support as the crowd had grown close to 1000 fans.
On the pitch and despite three scoring opportunities at either end, the score line remained nil all at the half time whistle.
At the resumption, Levi Merrick shot Big Players FC ahead in the 50th minute to start a celebration, which was short lived as one minute later (51st) Brian Rameau equalized for Pavee United, it was game on from here.
With fingers crossed, and loud shouts coming from supporters of both teams in the stands, the pace of the game suddenly surged to another level, but it will be Ranji Christopher that will put Big Players FC ahead in the 53rd minute and despite Pavee United’s efforts to equalize there was no further goals scored as Big Players FC kept their calm up until the final whistle.
The VOICE spoke to the President of the MFL, Christopher Clarke about day one of the tournament. This is what he said.
“Very exciting start to the tournament with four hard fought matches, to the appreciation of the supporters who braved the inclement weather to be part of the showpiece.”
“The MFL executive appreciates the effort put in by the club managers, coaches and players in making the matches on day one of the tournament a success it was.”
