Stars oust Caledonia via penalty shootout

North East Stars defeated Caledonia AIA in a penalty shootout at the Marvin Lee Stadium in Macoya on Saturday evening to book a spot in the semi-finals of this years First Citizens Cup. The teams battled to a 1-1 draw in regulation time in a game which saw very little by way of goalmouth action. There were no 30-minutes of extra time (as is stipulated by First Citizens Cup games) so this game was inevitably decided by the lottery of the penalty shootout where Stars came out the victors resoundingly.

The game definitely did have a knockout feel to it as neither team really pushed bodies forward in fear of leaking goals. Most of the build up play was very steady and conservative and this meant that much of the game was played in the midfield area as opposed to the attacking thirds of the pitch. With so much of the game being played in the midfield area it gave the opportunity to hardworking midfielders Jeromie Williams and Densil Theobald to show off their wares. The chubby Williams, who is affectionately called 'Butters' was very assertive in possession, and very aggressive when not in possession. I definitely saw why he was referred to as 'Butters' from watching this game. He gave the 'Cale' captain and national midfielder Theobald a very good run for his money. Wherever Theobald went, 'Butters' followed.  The pair's duel almost turned violent in the 35th minute when Williams harassed and jostled Theobald for possession and the Caledonia captain very nearly retaliated. Referee Merville Wallace brought a calm head to the situation though as he urged both men to take it down a notch, and still managed to keep his cards in his pockets.

As I said before there was not much by way of of goalmouth action in the game and goalkeepers Cleon John and Shemel Louison were rarely troubled during the duration of the 90 minutes. However, both men were beaten in the first half as strikers Tyrone Charles and Pernell Schultz exchanged goals. The first item of the game came from the head of Stars' Charles who glanced a right-sided free-kick into the bottom left corner in the 24th minute. Charles and his teammates celebrated the goal with a little jig thereafter. Schultz got the equalizer for 'Cale' in the 44th minute when his deflected 27-yard shot wrong-footed John and nestled in the bottom corner. The goal did indeed come as a surprise to me as Schultz was not really in a threatening position when he collected the ball. 

                                          

Caledonia shifted from a back five to a back four at the start of the second half, and this tweak in formation coupled with the introduction of Soca Warrior Keyon Edwards seemed to have spurred them on. The direct and aggressive play of Edwards gave Caledonia some thrust up front in the early stages of the second period. He was subsequently involved in a game-changing play in the 57th minute as he appeared to hurl some abusive language towards the referee after not getting a free-kick decision. Wallace promptly showed a red card to Edwards who reluctantly made his way off the filed.

Like most fans would, I expected North East to take make full use of their one-man advantage and go on to get the winner but that never materialized. They came closest in the 84th minute when Charles curled a right-footed shot from the edge of the box but Louison acrobatically tipped it away. Lousion's save prevented Charles from single-handedly sinking his old employers.

Caledonia defender Taylor Benjamin steps up to take the first penalty for his team

Caledonia's execution in the penalty shootout could not be much worse than it was as they just managed the one goal while Stars converted all of their kicks. This resulted in a 4-1 triumph for North East Stars in the shootout. They will now face Jabloteh in the semi-finals at the Ato Boldon Stadium on Friday.