The winger Ricky Shakes and mid-fielder Howard Newton were the Golden Jaguars players to score over the weekend, as they aided their clubs Ebbsfleet United and St. Albans Football Club to a 3-2 win and 1-1 draw over Bath City and Arlesey Town on Saturday.
Ebbsfleet United is an English professional club that plays in the Conference National Division of the Football Conference in England. It is the highest level of the National League System and fifth highest of the overall English football league system.
While all of the clubs in the top four tiers of English football are full-time professionals, the Conference National has a mixture of full-time and semi-professional clubs. The Conference National is the lowest nationwide division in the English football pyramid.
Shakes who made his debut for the Guyana national side last October during the second round World Cup qualifying match in Barbados and scored the now famous volleyed first goal in the historic game against Trinidad on November 11th, came on as the second-half substitute to score the second of his team’s three goals in the 76th minute.
Ebbsfleet United are currently 14th place in their league which comprises 23 teams.
Howard Newton who is currently on loan from Conference National team Staines Town to St Albans, like Shakes also came on as a substitute and scored a dramatic 90- minute equalizer in a game dominated by St Albans, in which they had 19 shots on goal, 11 on target, compared to Arlesey’s six, with just one on target.
St. Albans are currently 10th place in the Evo-Stik League Southern Premier Division.
Central defender Leon Cort, scorer of the winning goal in the Trinidad game was an unused substitute as Charlton Athletic drew 1-1 with Tranmere also on Saturday, to remain top of the English League One Division.
League One Division is the third tier of the English Football pyramid behind the Championship and Premier League. This means that Cort is the Jaguar playing in the highest division of football in the world currently.
Howard’s brother Jake Newton, the regular national right full-back, ran the full 90 minutes as his English Conference South Division team Havant & Waterlooville, colloquially known as the “Hawks”, lost 3-1 to Chelmsford City.
The Hawks are currently 17th in the Blue Square South league table.
Over in the North American Soccer League (NASL) – the second tier of the United States soccer pyramid behind Major League Soccer, Golden Jaguars captain Chris Nurse and defender John Paul “JP” Rodrigues play for the NASL teams Carolina Railhawks and Tamba Bay Rowdies respectively.
Carolina Railhawks have two pre-season matches on March 3rd and 29th, while the Rowdies have six games planned from March 3rd – 31st. The NASL season commences on April 4th, 2012.
The Guyanese contingent in the Trinidad & Tobago Professional League (TTPL) of Ronson Williams, Charles Pollard, Kayode McKinnon, Walter Moore and Vurlon Mills will be in action this weekend, February 24th, when matches in that league continue.
The third placed Caledonia AIA and their Guyanese pair of Moore and Williams will face off against fifth place Defence Force.
Simultaneously the seventh place North East Stars (NES) duo of Pollard and McKinnon will lock horns with Vurlon Mills and his league leading team T&T Tec Sports Club.
