“We have been in every final of this tournament for the last four years, so winning this time was no surprise for us. We started preparing very early from October last year so I was not actually surprised. What surprised me is that we did not score enough goals on the field.”
That was Piton Travel Young Stars Head Coach, Camillus Mathurin following his team’s thrilling finals victory over Chesters Sports Club, in the DJ Donga Mackeson Invitational Cup played Saturday evening at the La Ressource Playing Field with 3,000 spectators in attendance. The game lived up to the pregame hype. Tournament official Hendricks Constable was right on the money when he said following the semifinals “we are going to have a great if not one of the best finals.”
Mathurin was right in saying his team did not score enough goals. They missed several good opportunities, especially in the first half when he recalled “three or four balls passed in front of the goal and there was no one there to tap in.” Chesters FC who played in the finals for the first time gave a good account of themselves. They have nothing to be ashamed of and conceded only one goal in the tournament while scoring the most goals.
They got off to a good start scoring the opening goal of the game in the 34th minute. The triggerman was Marlon Gilbert. Piton Travel equalized just before the half courtesy of Marvin Joseph. There was no scoring in the second half as both custodians kept the strikers at bay, which resulted in this final being decided by penalty kicks.
For Chesters their first penalty kick may have ultimately led to their downfall, after Sherwin Simon misfired and blasted the ball over the crossbar. Piton Travel were the more accurate team in the penalty shootout and came out on top 4-3.
In the case of Chesters FC, when I asked Assistant Coach Alvin Faucher what went right, what went wrong for your team this evening he replied: “I think we played a good game. We had to make a few changes because certain things happened in the game like players getting injured which affected our game plan.” Despite the defeat, Faucher was proud of his team and he told me even before the game that he spoke to his team and said: “No matter what, to me you are champions in my books and no matter what the outcome, from where we came from to now, you will always be champions. Although I wanted to win I really not too sad after losing the final.”
In the third place playoff that preceded the final, On the Rock Strikers after being down a goal down got past Survivals 2-1. Cassi Janvier opened the scoring for Survivals in the fourth minute but they were shut out the rest of the way. Nicarge Edward equalized in the 32nd minute and both team headed to the dressing room even Stephen.
The eventual game winner came from the boot of Sylvarius Vidal in the 70th minute. Following the final there was an awards ceremony with brief remarks from officials and sponsors. After greeting everyone, Mackeson Brand Manager, Ed Mathurin said: “First of all I would like to thank the people of the Dennery community for coming out in such large numbers to support this tournament. I would also like to thank all the teams that participated in the tournament and congratulations to Piton Travel Young Stars for once gain winning this tournament in grand fashion. The brand Mackeson and also DJ Donga we came together to make this tournament happen, but it is you the patrons, you the footballers who really make it what it is today.”
CEO of the Dongar Mackeson Invitational Cup, Dongar McDonald thanked all the teams and sponsors for taking part in the tournament and feels this competion can be one of the biggest in St Lucia. There were also brief remarks from Parliamentary Representative for Dennery South, Shawn Edward; and President of the Mabouya Valley Football League, Kendall Emmanuel.
Following are the awards presented: Best Goalkeeper, Sian Edward (Chesters FC); Most Goals, Ridel Stanislaus (Piton Travel Young Stars) and Marlon Gilbert (Chesters FC); MVP of the Final, Marvin Joseph (Piton Travel Young Stars). For winning the tournament, Piton Travel Young Stars received DJ Donga Mackeson championship trophy and gold medals; Second place Chesters FC, trophy and silver medals; Third Place On the Rock Strikers trophy and bronze medals; and fourth place Survivals FC received a trophy.
