Super-sub Afiya Cornwall was the difference between the teams that led to a comfortable 3-0 victory for Tiger Tanks Club Sando United over AC Port of Spain (Pos) in the Women's Football League (WoLF) final on Wednesday night at the Hasely Crawford Stadium in Mucurapo that handed her team the title.
Cornwall was introduced to the game with about half-hour remaining on the clock and turned things around, scoring two times, including a beauty of strike from some 20 yards out to catch AC PoS goalkeeper Tenesha Palmer off her line.
The teams traded punches throughout the opening half but both returned to the dressing rooms at the half-time interval empty-handed. Club Sando up to Wednesday night, had not lost a single match and had only conceded one goal all season. However, coach Arnold Murphy's introduction of Cornwall, who they have labelled 'Super-sub' due to her previous exploits, did not disappoint.
She got her first goal from a Palmer dump out, which was picked up by Denecia Prince and released to the skilful Alexi Ali. The latter, known for her ability to tear defences apart instead, quickly threaded a pass inside the area for Cornwall to control with one touch and hit low into the bottom of the left-hand corner of Palmer's goal in the 75th minute for a 1-0 advantage.
The goal had released the strain on an already tense encounter all night that called for a moment of magic. And this Cornwall produced in the 81st minute that opened the gap between the teams to 2-0.
This time, Club Sando turned a previous AC PoS attack into a counterattack as Renee Mike threaded a long ball beautifully for Cornwall on the left side of the AC Port of Spain goal area, and the latter cut inside before her stunning shot sailed well over Palmer into the far left corner for her brace.
By then, the game seemed to have been surrendered by the Capital City women's team inside time added on. Still, Ali could not resist the temptation when she confronted Salandy at the edge of the AC Port of Spain goal area.
Using her pace to get past her marker, Ali was later bundled over by Salandy inside the box, forcing referee Cecile Hinds to point to the penalty spot in the 92nd minute. Khadesha Debisette then sent Palmer the wrong way to score her team's third goal in the 3-0 victory to lift the title.
Coach Murphy said afterwards that his team was never concerned in the match, having played three matches against men's teams for the encounter.
"We were very confident going into the match, we are a very confident team. We have not lost a game this season and we have only conceded one goal, a penalty from Defence Force.
"But I think what really helped us was that we played against the men's team in the lead-up to this match. In the first match, we were beaten 3-2, we lost the second match 6-1 and then we won the third practice game 6-2. It was not really about the result for us, but rather the preparation for the girls, so we were brimming with confidence for that match," Murphy explained yesterday.
Murphy is a multiple-time winner of the Secondary Schools Football League's girls' titles with Debe High and also coached the Petrotrin women's team with national captain Izla Browne.
Meanwhile, in a third-place match, Defence Force demolished Trincity Nationals 6-0, courtesy of goals from Shania Lewis (8th minute), Laurelle Theodore (12th minute), Aaliyah Trim (23rd minute), Kamile Degale (51st minute), Aaliyah Prince (63rd minute) and Kalicia Robinson in the 68th minute.
