Caribbean Sports Network

SAN JUAN Jabloteh and Caledonia AIA produced a goalless stalemate, at the Manny Ramjohn Stadium in Marabella, in their Round One Match Day Nine Digicel Pro League encounter on Saturday night. With the result, Jabloteh remained in fifth place while Caledonia are two spots adrift. In fairness, both teams never produced the look, display, conviction or performance worthy of potential title winners, or even title chasers, as the league nears its halfway stage.

The first real goal-scoring opportunity occurred in the 28th minute, when veteran Brazilian midfielder Ronaldo Viana, who looks a shadow of the player who made his name for W Connection during the past decade, struck a long-range freekick which was parried, onto the crossbar, by Caledonia’s goalkeeper, Jamaican Kevin Graham.

Shortly into the second half, Caledonia’s Guyanese forward Sean Beveney teed up midfielder Sherron Joseph, who missed his kick entirely, but wing-back Kareem Joseph drilled his left-footer overbar. Jabloteh, who played the entire match without a recognised forward, could have broken the deadlock in the 61st, as Jason Marcano capitalised on a defensive mix-up between Graham and defender Nuru Muhammad but embarrassingly send his left-footer high, with the goal at his mercy.

And the dreary fixture ended with a moment of nervousness, in injury time, as ex-national youth team midfielder Jean-Luc Rochford collected a ball from fellow AIA substitute Dwight Chrichlow and, with Jabloteh centre-back Karlon Murray retreating, Rochford blasted his right-footer against the uprights. Police finally registered a win in the competition, with a come-from-behind 3-1 triumph over fellow strugglers FC South End, in the earlier fixture at Marabella.

Jimmael Hughue put South End, who are in 10th place on the 11-team standings, in front after 29 minutes before Travis Robinson replied a minute before the half-time interval. Ricardo Peltier got the go-ahead goal for Police in the 82nd and Kaaron Foster ended his team’s five-game losing streak with the clincher, in stoppage time.

W Connection moved back to second place, over Ma Pau (who were on a bye this weekend) with a 2-0 victory over Tobago United.

Hughton Hector (39th) and Matthew Bartholomew (90th) were the goal- scorers for Connection, to the disappointment of the fans who turned out at the Plymouth Recreation Ground.

On Friday, Defence Force whipped St Ann’s Rangers 4-2 to stay top of the table with a 100 percent record while defending champs Joe Public rallied from a two-goal deficit to edge North East Stars 3-2. Round One Match Day Ten action will be staged this weekend.