It was a bridge too far and ‘Hammer’ blows too few for local giants Alpha United as they were eliminated from Caribbean Football Union (CFU) Club Championship, outclassed by Trinidad and Tobago unit Central FC 3-1 yesterday at the National Stadium.
While the score line did not illustrate the dominance of the visitors, the small crowd was palpably disappointed at the outcome. Midfielder Ataulla Guerra orchestrated the win for Central FC as he netted a double in the 15th and 85th minutes.
Playing the role of ‘Robin’ was Sean De Silva who netted in the 16th minute. On target for the home side was Konata Manning in the 44th minute.
With the win, Central FC clinched their maiden berth to the next round while Alpha United will be left with more questions than answers.
Only needing to secure a draw to progress to the next round, the ‘Hammers’ opted to alter their starting line-up from the one that defeated Surinamese unit Inter Moengotapoe as Quincy Madramootoo made way for Calvin Shepherd.
The remaining members line-up included Ronson Williams, Jamal Smith, Kirk Duckworth, Chris Camacho, Wayne Ellis, Manuel Vargas, Daniel Wilson, Gregory Richardson, Konata Manning and Kithson Bain.
This unexpected tactical change did not reap the necessary rewards as Shepherd failed to adjust to the tempo of the matchup. Conceding 80 percent of the ball and inviting pressure upon the sounding of the official’s whistle, Central FC were gifted the opener as custodian Williams made a howler of an error.
It was elementary positional mistake by the veteran shot-stopper who failed to judge the intended direction of a Guerra strike, allowing the flat effort from the top of the box skip inexplicably into his lower left corner.
The crowd certainly made their thoughts known about the aforementioned blunder. Sensing the wind being knocked out of Alpha sails, the Trinidad and Tobago unit would then double their lead one minute onward as Guerra once again made his presence felt.
Playing a one-two pass combination with De Silva outside the area, the lanky box-to-box midfielder would thread a perfectly placed through pass into the left of the box, which was raced onto by De Silva who finished into the right side past Williams in a one-on-one situation.
Clearly second best for most of the matchup, the introduction of Holder for Shepherd in the 37th minute would inject some much needed creativity as the hosts looked devoid of ideas and unable to construct a proper attacking pattern.
The home support would then finally get a reason to cheer as Manning cut the deficit one minute before the half time interval.
Awarded a spot-kick 25 yards from the centre of the goal, the veteran midfielder would ignite the quiet viewership, curling a right footed attempt into the top right corner, evading the outstretched hands of custodian Jan-Michael Williams futile dive.
Their resumption of physicality’s would see Alpha dictating the early minutes in search of the critical equaliser.
However, their momentum would be short-lived as Kelon Goodridge almost restored Central’s two goal advantage in the 59th minute, directing his header narrowly over the crossbar from within the centre of the box after rising to meet a left sided cornerkick unmarked.
The woodwork would then come to the home side’s rescue six minutes later as Jason Marcano placed his aerial right footed volley from within right side of the box onto the crossbar, after latching onto a left sided cross from Silva.
Marvin Oliver would be the next to be denied in the 76th minute, blasting his right footed attempt straight at Williams from within the centre of the box, after pouncing on a loose ball following a botched clearance from a right sided corner kick.
Desperate to make up for his earlier blunder, Williams would keep Alpha’s hopes alive four minutes later, denying Marcano in a one-on-one situation from within the centre of the box with his leg, after a deflected pass from the centre of the field found the attacker uncontested racing into the area.
Nevertheless, the ‘Hammer’ blow would be dealt five minutes to the fixture’s conclusion as Guerra netted from the penalty spot, breaking Alpha hearts.
Afforded the spot-kick after Darren Mitchell was brought down within the left side of the box by Wayne Ellis, the Trinidad and Tobago would international would cap off a brilliant individual showing, rifling his right footed strike into the right hand corner authoritatively .
Upon the conclusion of the group stage, the emerging winner will advance to the second round of the championship. The tourney’s final round which is slated to commence from May 20th-25th, will be played in a knockout format to select the champion.
Similarly, the top three teams in the final section of the event will earn places in the CONCACAF Champions League tourney.
Group-1 Final Standings
Team P W D L GF GA GD P
Central FC (T&T) 2 2 0 0 5 1 +4 6
Alpha United (Guyana) 2 1 0 1 4 3 +1 3
Inter Moengotapoe
(Suriname) 2 0 0 2 0 5 -5 0
