A championship title had eluded the La Clery football team for some time now –but they finally got over this hurdle with an incisive victory over Vieux Fort North to clinch the Saint Lucia Football Association’s (SLFA) Island Super Cup, last weekend.
La Clery defeated V Fort North 2-nil with clinical precision in the finals played at the Phillip Marcellin Ground.
La Clery’s prolific striker Andrus Remy scored a brace with goals on either side of the half to set up a hectic-paced game. And though the southern contenders attempted to match up against their more skillful opponents, they fell short of the target despite putting on some dogged resistance.
Team trainer and former national player, Zane Pierre spoke fondly of this emphatic victory, stating that La Clery had waited a long time to lift a championship trophy. He said the win was well deserved as the team sustained its dominance in the competition, to finish with an unbeaten run.
After a speedy opening half-hour in which the teams shared some good exchanges, it was La Clery that broke through for Remy to convert a 34th-minute penalty and give his team a 1-0 lead at the break.
As the session wore on, La Clery got the better of the offensive play and continued to put the VFort North defense under constant pressure.
And though VFort had their chances too, La Clery was more forceful on the attack. Remy maneuvered a ‘scrambled run’ in the 69th min to run past the defense and slot home to seal the victory.
In a post-match interview, the respective team coaches spoke to VOICE Sports about the mixed fortunes in the match.
Vieux Fort coach Dwayne Edward, spoke about coming up against formidable opponents that had defeated them thrice in previous encounters.
“One of the things that we aimed to do was to stop them so they would not be able to control the game, but we failed to do that,” he said. “We are a high-passing team and we were supposed to play our game, but unfortunately it didn’t happen.”
Expressing his disappointment with his team’s performance, Edward said, he had expected more from the team. “I know these guys, they have the potential, they can do it …but it was just one of our worst nights,” he lamented.
However, Pierre was full of praise for the drive and determination of the La Clery squad in accomplishing this long-awaited feat.
“We are a team that tries building up every time and we take one game at a time …so the confidence is always there”, declared Pierre.
“What helped us today is game management…they came on aggressive and we knew that we have to match them in certain aspects of the game,” he added. “We know the amount of talent that we have on this team …we always try to play to our strength as we know that we have a lethal attack.”
Looking ahead at the team’s prospects with a promotion to the Premier League, he said: “This is a great accomplishment for La Clery because it has been a while since they got so far in a tournament and I want the boys to go out there, enjoy the moment and savour the victory.”
Meanwhile, Micoud collected the Third Place trophy after winning by default over the National U-20 team.
At the completion of the tournament, the leading goal scorer was Andrus Remy of La Clery with nine goals, followed by Keegan Caull of the National U 20 team with eight. Three players ended with five goals each, namely Dilan Lucien, Jonathan Allain, and Darrel Francis.