St. Peters FC continued their impressive winning run in the 2023 SKNFA Premier League, racking up their 6th consecutive win after coming from behind to defeat Jones Group Sandy Point FC 2-1 on Sunday at Warner Park.
Sandy Point took the lead through T’Ondre Rouse in the 7th minute before Shomari Hanley equalized for St. Peters 10 minutes before halftime. Shevene Boston got the winner in the 69th minute.
In the second match of Sunday’s doubleheader, MFCR Old Road United Jets and Rams Village Superstars drew 1-1. Jardel Isaac got the goal for Old Road in the 9th minute before Dahjal Kelly equalized for Rams Village in the 22nd minute.
With this weekend’s results, Cayon Rockets remain at the top of the table, but only by three points as defending champions S L Horfords St. Paul’s United have narrowed the gap.
Cayon has 33 points from 14 matches while St. Paul’s United has 30 points. St. Peters are among the biggest movers as they are now in 3rd spot with 27 points after racking up six consecutive wins.
Old Road Jets remain in 4th with 24 points, Newtown United in 5th with 22 points, and Village Superstars in 6th with 21 points. Conaree FC are in 7th with 20 points and a game in hand, Garden Hotspurs are in 8th with 15 points, and Bath United is in 9th with 15 points.
In the relegation zone are Saddlers FC, Security Forces FC, and Sandy Point FC with 11, 5, and 2 points respectively.
Hat-trick hero Keithroy Freeman led S L Horsfords St. Paul’s to a 4-0 victory over Fast Cash Saddlers United on Saturday in the first 2023 SKNFA Premier League fixture to play on the island of Nevis. The match was the first of a doubleheader at the Nevis Athletics Stadium in Long Point.
Freeman’s goals came in the 45th, 46th and 79th minutes while the fourth goal came through Keshorne Warde in stoppage time.
Taju Clarke, a player with St. Paul’s, said the team prevailed despite not playing their very best.
“The performance you saw today was an overall good performance because we scored four goals and kept a clean sheet. There were instances when the game dropped off but our team, even though we fall off, we can regroup and score as many goals as possible,” he said before noting that the approach going forward would be to take it one game at a time.
He also had high marks for the Nevis Athletics Stadium as a venue for Premier League matches.
“The field is much better than most fields…despite it being open…it’s still a good venue,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Coach of Saddlers United, Samuel Phipps, suggested the performance of his team was below par.
“It was a really bad off day for us today. We lost 4-0. Nevertheless, I have to thank the guys for trying their best but again we gave up a soft goal just before halftime, and as soon as the second half began we gave up another soft goal, and that has been the trend since the first round. It was a tough loss,” Phipps said.
Meanwhile, Bath United eked out a 1-1 draw with league Leaders Flow 4G Cayon Rockets in front of a Nevisian crowd for the first time this season.
After a goalless first half, Malik Hendrickson gave Cayon the lead in the 74th minute before, eight minutes later, Jalden Myers converted a penalty to level proceedings.
Cayon Coach, Al Edwards, said the match was a tale of two halves.
“In the first half, we got frustrated and went away from the game plan. At half time we were able to look at some of the points that we needed to do and controlled much of the second half. The second half really belonged to us but we weren’t able to create much of the opportunities that we wanted,” he said, noting that it’s back to the drawing board for their next match.
Coach Alex Claxton of Bath said it was important that the team picked up results from this match in front of the Nevisian fans.
“I think that it was very, very important that we pick up points from this game, knowing that it’s our first game at home,” he said. “This is something we were looking forward to and we are happy with the turnout and we wanted to make sure we didn’t disappoint our fans and our supporters,” he said.
The matches on Friday between Security Forces FC and Hobson Enterprises Garden Hotspurs and SOL IAS Conaree FC and Newtown United both ended in 0-0 draws.