Nigel Si­mon

Dig­i­cel Pro League ti­tle favourites ad cur­rent league lead­ers, De­fence Force will be hop­ing to get back to win­ning ways when they face Di­recTV North East Stars in round two match day three ac­tion to­day from 6 pm. The meet­ing be­tween the "Teteron Boys" and the San­gre Grande-based Stars kicks off at 6 pm at the Lar­ry Gomes Sta­di­um, Mal­abar. Sev­en days ago, De­fence Force had its march to­wards its first league ti­tle in 11 years slowed af­ter it was held to a 0-0 draw by W Con­nec­tion. Go­ing in­to that en­counter, the "Teteron Boys" held a per­fect record of ten wins from as many match­es and led with 30 points, but af­ter drop­ping their first league points of the sea­son and fail­ing to score for the first time in a league match, coach Ross Rus­sell and his troops are ea­ger to get back on track.

Since the 0-0 draw with the "Savonet­ta Boys", De­fence Force over­came St Ann's Rangers 3-1 in ex­tra-time on Fri­day to se­cure a T&T Foot­ball Fed­er­a­tion FA semi­fi­nal spot while Stars', joint fifth on the ta­ble with W Con­nec­tion on 16 points each, edged Ma Pau 1-0 in its quar­ter­fi­nal. This af­ter beat­ing Po­lice 6-3 in a league en­counter last week, af­ter trail­ing 3-0 at the half. De­fend­ing cham­pi­on, bmo­bile Joe Pub­lic, nine points be­hind De­fence Force will be hop­ing for an­oth­er slip up by the league lead­ers while they hunt vic­to­ry against W Con­nec­tion at the Man­nie Ramjohn Sta­di­um, Mara­bel­la. With De­fence Force like­ly to cap­ture the league ti­tle, the race is on for the run­ner-up spot which will se­cure a spot in the Caribbean Foot­ball Union Club Cham­pi­onships a qual­i­fi­er to the Con­ca­caf Cham­pi­ons League where both Joe Pub­lic and W Con­nec­tion have fea­tured in the last two sea­sons.

The East­ern Li­ons en­ter the match in a con­fi­dent mood af­ter a hat-trick from strik­er and cap­tain, Ker­ry Bap­tiste led them to a come-from-be­hind 3-1 vic­to­ry over San Juan Jabloteh in their last league match while W Con­nec­tion has slipped down the ta­ble to fifth spot. Three oth­er clubs, all still in the hunt for sec­ond spot, Cale­do­nia AIA, Ma Pau and San Juan Jabloteh will al­so be in ac­tion to­day. Match­es con­tin­ue on Fri­day and Sat­ur­day be­fore the league takes a three-week break for the Christ­mas Hol­i­days. League match­es will re­sume on Jan­u­ary 7.

Cur­rent Pro League Stand­ings

Teams P W D L F A Pts

D/Force 11 10 1 0 27 8 31

Joe Pub­lic 11 6 4 1 20 12 22

Cale­do­nia 11 5 3 3 14 11 18

Ma Pau 11 4 5 2 14 9 17

W Con­nec­tion 11 4 4 3 14 9 16

NE Stars 11 4 4 3 20 16 16

Jabloteh 11 3 4 4 12 10 13

Rangers 11 2 3 6 11 21 9

Po­lice 11 1 2 14 33 5

South End 11 1 0 10 8 25 3

TO­DAY's MATCH­ES

Cale­do­nia vs Po­lice, HC Sta­di­um, Mu­cu­rapo, 6 pm.

Jabloteh vs Rangers, HC Sta­di­um, Mu­cu­rapo, 8 pm.

Ma Pau vs South End, Ato Boldon Sta­di­um, Cou­va,

6 pm.

W Con­nec­tion vs Joe Pub­lic, Man­ny Ramjohn Sta­di­um, Mara­bel­la, 6 pm.

N/E Stars vs D/Force, Lar­ry Gomes Sta­di­um, Mal­abar, 6 pm.

Next match­es

De­cem­ber 17

Jabloteh vs Po­lice, Hase­ly Craw­ford Sta­di­um, Mu­cu­rapo, 6 pm

Ma Pau vs D/Force, Hase­ly Craw­ford Sta­di­um, Mu­cu­rapo, 8 pm

De­cem­ber 18

Joe Pub­lic vs South End, Mar­vin Lee Sta­di­um, Ma­coya, 6 pm

W Con­nec­tion vs Rangers, Ato Boldon Sta­di­um, Cou­va, 6 pm

North East Stars vs Cale­do­nia, Lar­ry Gomes Sta­di­um, Mal­abar, 6 pm