SPECTATORS were treated to goals galore, when the Digicel Premier League football competition continued on Sunday at the National Stadium.
Fourteen goals were scored in the evening’s three encounters and defending champions Barbados Defence Force Sports Programme (BDFSP) and high flyers Rendezvous were responsible for ten of them.
Rendezvous blanked Pinelands 5-0 and BDFSP dismissed Direct TV Paradise by a similar margin while the feature match between Weymouth Wales and Mackeson Brittons Hill ended in an enthralling 2-2 draw.
BDFSP continued their dominance over Paradise after winning both games last year.
Paradise seemingly lost all their bearings after the first 45 minutes as they conceded five goals in the second half. A double strike from Rashad Jules in the 57th and 65th minutes, along with two goals from Raheim Sargeant in the 87th and 89th and a lone strike from Kyle Gibson in injury time capped off a five-star performance for the title-holders.
Rendezvous’ relentless form continued, as for the second consecutive week they put five past their opponents.
Pinelands started very competitively, perhaps too much, for in the 10th minute Tito Jones was a bit over zealous in his challenge on Miron Samuels which resulted in referee Gillian Martindale awarding a penalty.
Shandel Samuel stepped up to take the resulting spot kick but was thwarted by a fine save from goalkeeper Romario Browne.
The scores remained 0-0 up until a technical issue with the lights forced the officials to halt the game for approximately 12 minutes. But immediately after power was restored, Rendezvous opened the scoring.
In the 25th minute, Miron whipped a right-footed free kick from the left hand side, just outside the penalty area and Shandel arrived at the back post unmarked to head powerfully past Browne.
Shandel headed in his and Rendezvous’ second in the 35th minute in almost similar fashion from another free kick by Miron. The score line may have been worse, if not for the heroics of Browne who made some stellar saves.
The Miron and Shandel show continued to bear fruit for Rendezvous as Shandel registered his hat-trick in the 58th minute. Miron sprinted by his marker on the right, broke into the box and played the ball across the goal area for Shandel to slide in at the near post.
Pinelands’ really struggled to muster any real attacks of value, despite some very attractive play in midfield. Captain and leading goal scorer from last season Arantes Lawrence was isolated and received very little support from his midfield and fellow forwards.
Rendezvous scored their fourth goal in the 69th minute with Miron displaying electrifying speed before placing his left-foot shot into the bottom far corner.
Pinelands were down to ten men in the 85th minute when substitute Henderson Best was given marching orders for serious foul play and Romano Snagg rubbed salt into their wounds in the 90th minute with a right- foot blast into the roof of the net from close range.
In the feature match, Wales ruined a two-goal cushion and had newly-acquired goalkeeper Omari Eastmond sent off in an exciting encounter against Brittons Hill.
The Carrington Village boys started brightly, opening the score in the 8th minute. A cross from the right was met at the far post by Tristan “Fishy” Parris, who supplied a well-weighted pass for Kemar Headley to run onto and side-foot from 10 yards, sneaking the ball under the body of goalkeeper Rashad Ince.
Four minutes later, it was Headley on the score sheet again. Another cross from the right caused all kinds of problems for an uncharacteristic disorganised Brittons Hill defence. After a mass mix up in the penalty area, the ball fell to Headley and he drilled it into the back of the nets.
Brittons Hill got a lifeline just before the break. Curtis Odle made one of his tantalising runs into the penalty area and was brought down by Kemar Bartlett, leaving the referee no choice but to award a penalty kick.
Zidkigah Samuel calmly stepped up and sent Eastmond to the left while rolling the ball into the bottom right-hand corner to cut the deficit to one in the 41st minute.
Wales wasted plenty opportunities to close out the game and were duly punished in the 90th minute. Eastmond was adjudged to have tripped substitute Walton Burrowes in the box, which resulted in a penalty and Eastmond’s second yellow card.
This time, Samuel went for the left corner and was lucky to get beyond replacement goalkeeper Headley, who managed to get a partial touch on the ball.
