As round two of the SKNFA Premier League continued on Friday, defending champions S. L. Horfords St. Paul’s United registered a 2-1 victory over MFCR Old Road United Jets at the St. Paul’s Playing Field.

St. Paul’s were up 2-0 going into the halftime interval through goals from Kalonji Clarke (19’) and Keithroy Freeman (26’). The Jets got a consolation goal in the 91^st minute when Philson Wattley Jr scores into his own net.

The match went into a lengthy stoppage time due to injuries to players that warranted extended medical attention. Hence, stoppage time was some 20 minutes; enough for two players—one on either team to be sent off after receiving second yellow cards.

St. Paul’s team manager Austin Lewis was more pleased with his team’s performance in the first half but felt the second half left more to be desired. “I think we had a good first half…in a game, you always have ups and downs and I think we can take the ups and work on them and continue to improve on the down moments,” Lewis said.

For Coach of Old Road Alexis Morris, he felt his team should have won the game comfortably, as they failed to put away chances. “I thought my team should have won this game handsomely,” he said.

“Especially in the second half, we really stuck to the game plan. We went out, we were more resilient, we were forceful and as a result, we put St. Paul’s on the back foot and we should have gotten at least three goals in the second half,” Morris added.

On Saturday at the Newtown playing field, Village Superstars ran riot over Sandy Point FC, defeating them 8-0.

The goals came from Kimaree Rogers (2’), Dahjal Kelly (3’, 22’, 23’), Hasani Flemming (8’), Joseph Wilkes (54’, 59’) and Tiran Hanley (76’).

Assistant coach of Village Vaughn Patrick suggested that scoring eight goals, after not scoring enough in previous matches, was a sign of progress.  

“I must commend the guys. We worked hard in training. We were lacking goals and we got eight today. That’s a plus,” Patrick said.

Shaquan Pemberton of Sandy Point felt the two red cards his team got, affected their ability to get a better result.

“As you can see, we got two red cards in the game. We just put that behind us and come out stronger in the next game,” he said.

In the night’s second match, league leaders Flow 4G Cayon Rockets edged Hobson Enterprises Garden Hotspurs 1-0 in the dying moments of the match. SKNFA Player of the Month for March, Mervin Lewis, scored from a through pass in the 83^rd minute.

Despite the win, Coach Al Edwards of Cayon said he felt they should have scored more, sealing the win much earlier.

“I thought it should have been a bit more comfortable, given that we had a lot of chances. What concerned me is that we made a lot of errors in the back and really kept them in the game,” he said.

He noted that they will be working on scoring goals in training as they we not converting their chances in this match.

Coach Stephen Brown said it was a good game and fatigue may have led to the defeat.

“Honestly speaking, it wasn’t a bad game from the guys. I think they really put their all in tonight. I think a bit of fatigue crept in the game, so we became a little sloppy in possession and a little slow on defense, thus giving a little too much space; allowing the shot; which unfortunately beat the keeper near post. Once again we are going home without a win,” Brown said.

St. Peters FC registered their 5^th consecutive win of the season from their last six matches, after they edged Bath United 2-1 on Mother’s Day in the SKNFA Premier League at the Warner Park. Tyquan Terrell was the hero for St. Peters scoring the team’s two goals in the 9^th and 52^nd minutes. Bath’s goal came from a defensive error— Devion Harvey (St. Peters) scoring an own goal in the 32nd min.

The game was hotly contested in the end as Bath received three red cards—two of which were players.

Coach Austin Huggins of St. Peters said he wasn’t happy with the performance of the team but was pleased with gaining the three points. “I am not quite happy with the performance of the team but we managed to get the three points, which is most important. I believe we were a bit flat today. We were missing a few key players but not an excuse for the performance,” he said.

Coach Alex Claxton of Bath said he knew the match was going to be a tough one, considering they defeated them in round 1. “We know that St. Peters were going to come back at us and we know it was going to be a well fought game,” Claxton said. That victory for St. Peters has shot them up the table to third place. Meanwhile, in the day’s earlier match Fast Cash Saddlers and Newtown United ended in a 1-1 draw.

Elsewhere, Newtown and Saddlers played out a 1-1 draw. After a scoreless first half, Newtown took the lead in the 78^th minute through Sylvester Caines before Saddlers got their equalizer just two minutes later through Dequam Wattley.

Saddlers Coach Samuel Phipps said his team failed to put away their chances. “We had the chances early, we had the chances in the second half, but we failed to put them away,” Phipps said. “That has been the script for a few games now in the league. We can’t wait until the opponent scores, before we start playing.”

For Coach Anthony Isaac, the draw, the 6^th of the season is unacceptable. “That’s six draws of the season, which is unacceptable to us, especially when we are ahead all the time,” Isaac said.

The SKNFA hosted fan appreciation day on Sunday, Mother’s Day, giving free access to both games while also presenting gifts to the first 50 mothers who attended the matches. Mothers of players of the teams that played, technical staff and SKNFA staffers were also recognized.