Rendezvous Div 3 champs

Rendezvous completed a hat-trick of wins when they blanked University of the West Indies (UWI) 4-0 to capture the Barbados Football Association’s Division 3 title at the National Stadium on Tuesday night.
The victory followed a similar 4-0 drubbing of Cave Hill and 5-1 whipping of Ellerton, the other two zone winners who contested the four-team championship play-offs.
“I can’t find the words to say how I feel. This is our first year playing Third Division and we really impressed, playing unbeaten, even in the play-offs,” Rendezvous’ coach Junior “Fox” Greenidge told NATIONSPORT.
During the regular Division 3 season, Rendezvous scored a record 97 goals for and 12 against, while in the three play-off games, they scored 13 goals and conceded just one.
“We were beating our opponents by four and five goals or more. The least we gave anybody was three, while we drew only two games,” he noted.
“I must thank a few of our friends from over in St Vincent who came and helped the team. They fitted in right away, but I also want to thank all the guys for coming and playing their heart out. Special thanks to Frederick Grant. I want to dedicate this win to him,” added Greenidge.
Rendezvous took control of the game after UWI were unlucky to see a shot from lanky striker Dario Harewood crash onto the goalpost.
Kelvin Browne opened the scoring in the 20th minute, easily slotting home a rebound after teenaged Vincentian national striker Myron Samuel hit the upright with a free kick.
The heavy-set Grant then converted a 24th minute penalty to make it 2-0 after Kerwyn Holder was brought down following some deft dribbles on the right side of the penalty area.
Samuel gave Rendezvous a 3-0 half-time lead in the 31st, clinically meeting his St Vincent and the Grenadines’ teammate Romano Snagg’s cross from the right side with a low one-time drive past the hapless UWI goalkeeper Kadeem Legall.
Eight minutes into the second half, St Vincent’s senior team captain Shandel Samuel ran onto a through ball from Holder, dribbled Legall and toyed with two defenders before scoring the fourth goal.
With victory secured, there was a pleasant surprise when Rendezvous brought on the now grey-bearded 53-year-old former Paradise and Barbados defender Don Legall in a midfield role.
Rendezvous’ goalkeeper Victor Holder was able to keep another clean sweep as veterans Floyd Bailey, George Skeete, Rodney “Bob” Yarde and Adrian Pridee in defence were just too strong for the more youthful UWI outfit.
Greenidge said the team would be looking for a few more youngsters next season as their formula is to “mix youth and experience”.
“We are really looking forward to playing Division 2 next year and continue our winning ways, right up to Premier League. That’s the plan,” Greenidge said.
Rendezvous were also giant-killers in the KFC Cup, ousting relegated Premier League team Bagatelle to reach the quarter-finals when Silver Sands handed them their only loss of the season.