Three-time win­ners De­fence Force and Cunu­pia FC reg­is­tered nar­row 1-0 wins as the bat­tle for the T&T Pro League’s 2019 First Cit­i­zens Cup kicked off at the Diego Mar­tin Sports Com­plex in Bagatelle, Diego Mar­tin, on Fri­day night.

It was the first time that pro­fes­sion­al foot­ball was played in the Diego Mar­tin com­mu­ni­ty and the event was hailed as a step in the right di­rec­tion to­wards guid­ing lo­cal clubs to wards a path of self-sus­tain­abil­i­ty in the fu­ture. The fact that spec­ta­tors were treat­ed to two close­ly fought match­es al­so helped that cause.

In the night’s open­er, Cunu­pia FC got a 53rd-minute strike from Ajani Clarence as they stunned two-time win­ners Mor­vant Cale­do­nia AIA 1-0 in their Im­mortelle Group cur­tain-rais­er.

And in the sec­ond match-up, last year’s beat­en fi­nal­ist De­fence Force edged ti­tle-hold­ers Cen­tral FC 1-0 cour­tesy a 25th-minute ef­fort from Jameel Coop­er in the Aber­crom­bie group.

The tour­na­ment is be­ing con­test­ed via a round-robin for­mat with two groups of six teams each. At the end of the round-robin phase, the top two teams from each group will ad­vance to the se­mi-fi­nal in­ which the win­ners of that round will earn the right to con­test the $75,000 win­ners’ prize, while the run­ners-up with pock­et $25,000.

Match­es will re­sume to­mor­row with dou­ble-head­ers at both the Hase­ly Craw­ford Sta­di­um, Mu­cu­rapo and Diego Mar­tin Sport­ing Com­plex, both from 4 pm.

At Mu­cu­rapo, record eight-time win­ners W Con­nec­tion plays Point Fortin Civic from 4 pm fol­lowed by Po­lice against Ter­minix La Hor­quet­ta Rangers, while at Diego Mar­tin, two-time win­ners San Juan Jabloteh bat­tles 1976 Fc To­ba­go Phoenix from 4 pm fol­lowed by AC Port-of-Spain (for­mer­ly North East Stars) and Tiger Tanks Club San­do.

Mean­while, the league com­pe­ti­tion will of­fi­cial­ly kick-off af­ter close to a year of in­ac­tiv­i­ty on De­cem­ber 13 and will even­tu­al­ly be called the ‘As­cen­sion Pro League’, as mem­ber clubs and the Pro League board of di­rec­tors have agreed to have As­cen­sion spon­sor the league this year, while dis­cus­sions are still on­go­ing with Sports­Max and the T&T Foot­ball As­so­ci­a­tion to join.

Pro League of­fi­cials are al­so con­sid­er­ing a call to have the sec­ond-tier com­pe­ti­tion or­gan­ised in time for the of­fi­cial start of the Pro League on De­cem­ber 13.

Scores:

Cunu­pia FC 1 (Ajani Clarence 53rd) v Mor­vant Cale­do­nia AIA 0

De­fence Force 1 (Jameel Coop­er 25th) v Cen­tral FC 0

Im­mortelle Group: Tiger Tank Club San­do, Mor­vant Cale­do­nia Unit­ed, Cunu­pia FC, Ath­let­ic Club AC Port-of-Spain, San Juan Jabloteh, 1976 Phoenix,

Aber­crom­bie Group: W Con­nec­tion, De­fence Force, Po­lice FC, Ter­minix La Hor­quet­ta Rangers, Point Fortin Civic and Cen­tral FC

Up­com­ing match­es:

Mon­day, Oc­to­ber 28:

Venue: Diego Mar­tin Sport­ing Com­plex, Diego Mar­tin:

San Juan Jabloteh v 1976 FC To­ba­go Phoenix, 4 pm

AC Port-of-Spain v Tiger Tanks Club San­do, 6 pm

Venue: Hase­ly Craw­ford Sta­di­um, Mu­cu­rapo:

W Con­nec­tion v Pt Fortin Civic, 4 pm

Po­lice FC v Ter­minix La Hor­quet­ta Rangers, 6 pm