S L Horsfords St. Paul’s United maintained their lead at the top of the National Bank Group of Companies Premier League table with a 2-0 win over Honda Newtown United on Sunday March 24^th at Warner Park, despite going down to ten men when Omar Francis was issued a red card late in the first half.

St. Paul’s have 12 points, winning all four of their Premier League matches thus far.

The goals came from Nicquan Phipps in the fourth minute and Kalonji Clarke in the 45^th minute.

The St. Paul’s match was part of a rare triple header on Sunday; the first ending 6-0 to SOL IAS Conaree FC over Trafalgar Southstars; their first win of the season.

The goals came from Errol O’Loughlin in the 24^th minute, Jahquan Hendrickson in the 28^th minute, Byron Phillip in the 46^th minute, Tijani Fahie in the 50^th minute, Quanieki Clarke in the 64^th minute and Shawn Martin (pk) in the 90^th +3 minute.

The second match saw Flow 4G Cayon Rockets also earning their first win of the season with a come from behind to defeat Hotsprings Bath United 2-1.

Venreece Richards gave Bath United the lead in the 53^rd minute before Cayon Rockets equalized 23 minutes later through Vinceroy Nelson. Five minutes later, Shaheem Prentice got the winner.

On Saturday March 23, SKELEC Garden Hotspurs and MFCR Old Road United Jets came to a goalless draw, while Development Bank St. Peters FC delivered a shocked 3-2 come from behind win against defending champions Rams Village Superstars.

Jayan Duncan (10^th minute), Kadeem Rawlins (72^nd minute) and Shavene Boston (89^th minute) got the goals for Hotspurs while the St. Peters goals came from Joseph Wilkes in the 18^th minute and Kimaree Rogers in the 52^nd minute.

The National Bank Group of Companies Premier League continues on March 27^th and 28^th ahead of the Easter weekend.

The SKNFA Super Six Playoffs table is tight after this past weekend’s matches. One team is almost assured of a finals spot and four of the remaining five teams have a mathematical chance of being the next finalists.

Added to that, two of those teams, Conaree FC and Village Superstars are tied on six points with the same goal difference. The table makes each team’s final match of the round-robin phase very intriguing.

The drama all started on Friday night when Flow 4G Cayon Rockets defeated Newtown United 2-1. Devaunty Carty opened the scoring for Cayon in the 20^th minute before a K’andre Wattley own goal 16 minutes later tied proceedings. Cayon’s winning goal came in the 90^th minute through Kejorn Wattley.

Coach Al Edwards of Cayon, while happy with the win, rued his team’s missed chances.

“The last time we spoke, I said all we have been practicing is finishing and for the last three days that's all we have been doing; finishing, finishing, finishing," Edwards said. We were looking for a big win to boost our chances at even a third place or to squeeze in the final (two) but it didn't come tonight," he said.

Newtown Coach Anthony “Nets” Isaac felt a substitution of his goalkeeper in the latter stages of the match, with an outfield player, due to an injury to his goalkeeper and the unavailability of his starting custodian, changed the outcome of the match.

“It changed a lot for us.... we had to put in one of our better defenders in the goal just to replace the goalkeeper," lamented Isaac, who said his goalkeeper had his shoulder dislocated. His first-choice goalkeeper was unable to play due to an accident before the match.

Saturday saw one of the best matches of the playoffs so far between MFCR Old Road United Jets and SOL IAS Conaree FC.

Old Road took a very early lead in the 3^rd minute through Loudajour Lewis before Conaree equalized seven minutes later through a Javern Matthew penalty. Wazim Hough gave Conaree the lead in the 26^th minute before Old Road squared things up through Tiquanny Williams in the 37^th minute. An Errol O’Loughlin strike two minutes before the half meant Conaree went in with a 3-2 advantage.

That lead lasted all the way to the 90^th minute before Williams converted a penalty to tie the game at 3-3.

The game ended on a sour note, however, as four players were given straight red cards after the match ended prematurely due to a fight.

The red carded players were Iquon Frazer (Old Road), Tiquanny Williams (Old Road), Kadeen Lewis (Conaree) and Wazim Howe (Conaree).

Coach Al Richards of Conaree was hoping for a win but relished the point from the draw.

“I thought we should have won it…We gave up a penalty, which was a soft penalty. But nevertheless, the team held out for the draw,” Richards said.

In relation to the incident, the SKNFA issued a statement: “The SKNFA deeply regrets the unfortunate incident that occurred following an exceptionally competitive match—one of the season's finest. Such behavior has no place in the game we love and respect. Consequently, our disciplinary committee will convene to take decisive action, in line with our established bylaws.”

Action continued on Sunday when SL Horsfords St. Paul’s United and Rams Village Superstars played out a 1-1 draw.

After a goalless first half, Niquan Phipps gave St. Paul’s the lead in the 67^th minute before Tahir Hanley got the equalize for Village in the 94^th minute.

That match was marred by a serious injury to Diquan Johnson of St. Paul’s, who was taken by ambulance to the JNF Hospital. The incident led to a 23-minute delay. That delay affected how both teams approached the conclusion of the match, as explained by Coach Stephen Clarke of Village and Manager of St. Paul’s Derionne Edmeade. Clarke said he had to withdraw Hasani Flemming, the player who tackled Johnson when he sustained the injury.

“I had to take him out because he was very, very distraught. But besides that, we still had a game to finish,” he said. Edmeade said the injury impacted how his players finished the match. “I think that also took a toll on the mindset (of the players) as we tried to finish the game,” he said. Best wishes to Johnson as he is recovering from his injury.

All teams will have to wait a week to know their fate as we now enter an international break. The St. Kitts Senior Men’s National Team will bow into action in the Concacaf Nations League this Thursday at 7 p.m. against Guadeloupe at the SKNFA Technical Center.