The Canaries Football Ground was beaming with excitement over the weekend as teams jostled for much needed points in what looks to be a tight race.
The action which commenced on Saturday after the Friday fixture were postponed, saw the 7pm encounter between Mabouya Valley and Central Castries provide a post-style match for the St. Lucia Semi Professional League (SPFL).
By the half time whistle, Central Castries, the favourites to win, were up 1-0 through national player Shaquan “Ants” Nelson who netted in the first minute in extra time.
The second would however prove to be the more exciting of the halves. The very consistent Messiah Pinel brought his team up 2-0 in the 63rd minute only to have one pulled back by Alk Marquis in the 72nd. It looked like game over when Giovanni Saltibus scored two minutes later, making it 3-1 but Gervan Janvier had his say in the 90th making it 3-2 before Mabouya Valley captain Brandon Sandiford stepped up to slot home a penalty after a hand ball in the 18-yard box. It ended 3-3 with Central Castries understandably unhappy having to share points when the game looked all but secured.
The night’s second fixture featured Gros Islet and Soufriere, an encounter that everyone expected Gros Islet to breeze through comfortably, but that proved not to be the case as Soufriere made life difficult for last year’s semi-finalist.
Soufriere actually opened the scoring when the Gros Islet Goalkeeper fumbled a Jahzani Henry strike at the lower right corner in the 6th minute. After settling down the boys from the north equalized through Mekhi Stanislaus in the 20th and went ahead in the 40th through Jahlil Evans. After the brake, Evans was back to secure his hat-trick, scoring in the 53rd and 56th minutes. With the score at 4-1 it seemed all over but there was a bit of a scare as Jardel Phillips scored in the 61st while Jahzani Henry registered his brace in the 75th. Both teams had additional chances but it was a case of too little too late for the Sourfiere outfit as the match ended 4-3 in favour of the Gros Islet team.
Last weeks postponed matches has been rescheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday at the Canaries Playing Field.