Barbados Defence Force Sports Programme (BDFSP) kept in time with the early pacesetters in the Barbados Football Association’s Premier League with a comfortable 3-1 win over Rendezvous. Porey Springs, on the other hand, were made to settle for a point against Crane & Equipment Ellerton in Saturday night’s fixtures at the Empire ground.
Duels between BDFSP and Rendezvous in the past have been fiercely contested, with results going both ways. However, with BDFSP continuously refreshing their squad and Rendezvous losing some key players over the last two seasons, the former were the overwhelming favourites on the night.
A thumping drive by Omani Leacock through a cluster of bodies after ten minutes broke the initial deadlock before Raheem Sargeant skilfully evaded Rendezvous goalkeeper Romaine Primus to put BDFSP two goals to the good within the opening 20 minutes.
Primus was called into action on numerous occasions subsequently, as BDFSP continuously carved open their opposition’s rear guard, exposing the diligent goalkeeper to an onslaught of shots.
Rendezvous, to their credit, refused to lie down and be beaten, with Nicholas Jones coming closest to reducing the deficit but his shot at the end of the first half went just narrowly wide.
Four minutes after the restart, captain Rommel Bynoe got a goal back and swung the tide in his team’s favour until Shaquille Boyce broke free from the defence and was fouled in the penalty area ten minutes later. In true striker fashion, Boyce dusted himself off and scored the resulting penalty for the 3-1 lead and effectively put to bed any hopes of a response from Rendezvous.
Porey Springs were evenly matched with Ellerton in their drawn contest earlier in the night. Midfielder Jomo Harewood gave Porey Springs a lift off with a goal from a corner kick in the 21st minute before Zinio Harris tied the scores five minutes later.
Despite an open and engaging second half, both teams were unable to find the winner. The draw ensured Ellerton their first point of the season while newly-promoted Porey Springs still have to wait for their first victory of their inaugural season in the top flight. (NM)
