St Vincent and the Grenadines striker Shandel Samuel scored a double as Ma Pau moved to the top of the Digicel Pro League standings with a 2-0 blanking of South End, in their encounter at the Marvin Lee Stadium, Macoya, yesterday. After a goalless first half, Samuel broke the deadlock with a 57th minute strike, to give the Woodbrook "Casino Boys", a 1-0 advantage.
He then registered his second twenty minutes later to seal the win for his club, who are only in their second season in the competition. Ma Pau, who went into the match, in third spot, just a point behind the leader Caledonia AIA of Morvant/Laventille and second place bmobile Joe Public, now enjoy a one-point cushion (33) over two-time defending champion Clico San Juan Jabloteh (32), at the top. Over at the Mannie Ramjohn Stadium, Marabella a hat-trick from Devon Jorsling led the Defence Force to its seventh win in the first match of a double-header. In a battle of the protective services, the Army came from behind, to hammer the bottom of the table Police, 5-1.
In the second match at Marabella, Jabloteh with former England-based national defender Dennis Lawrence in their starting line-up ended a four match winless streak with a 2-0 win over Caledonia. Striker, Lester "Corn Curls" Peltier got both items for Jabloteh, in the 18th and 44th minute. Kenwin Matthews gave the Police the lead in the 48th minute, after a goalless first half. However, the Army then got into their stride, with Jorsling netting the first of his three in the 56th, before finding his second six minutes later to give the soldiers a 2-1 lead.
Kevon Carter then made it 3-1 in the 70th minute, before Jorsling got his third in the 85th. And with three minutes left in regulation time, Kerry Joseph put the icing on the cake to give the Army the win. Meanwhile, United Petrotrin led by a hat-trick from former national midfielder Aurtis Whitley, drubbed St Ann's Rangers 4-1 in their encounter at the Ato Boldon Stadium in Couva.
Yesterday's Results
Jabloteh 2 (Lester Peltier 18th, 44th) vs Caledonia 0
Ma Pau 2 (Shandel Samuel 57th & 77th) vs South End 0.
D/Force 5 (Devon Jorsling 56th, 62nd, 85th, Kevon Carter 70th, Kerry Joseph 87) vs Police 1 (Kenwin Matthews 48th).
Petrotrin 4 (Aurtis Whitley 8th, 25th, 74th, Louis Lima 86th) vs Rangers 1 (Coneal Thomas 27th).