Eventful fortnight to start Premier League season

Andres Ruiz of Roma is swarmed by Academy players. Roma has opened with a pair of tough draws.

An eventful two weeks are in the books for the 2018/19 Cayman Islands Football Association (CIFA) Premier League season.

Elite Sports Club takes the early honours of being top of the table after opening with back-to-back wins: a 3-2 win over Latinos Football Club on 4 November thanks to a stoppage time goal and a 12-2 thrashing of Alliance Football Club on 11 November.

In the most recent encounter, last season’s leading goal-scorer, Christopher Reeves found his rhythm with four against the outmatched Alliance side, which has returned for their second campaign after skipping last season.

Christopher Reeves has five goals in two games for Elite. (Photo: Elite Sports Club)

Defending champions Scholars International worked hard to split the points with Roma United in their season opener on 3 November. Jorel Bellafonte, who is better known for his exploits on the track, put Roma ahead in the 27th minute before Damalay Howelle found the back of the net with an equaliser for Scholars in the 82nd.

Scholars did not break a sweat to take three points the following week, as North Side forfeited due to seven of their players getting red cards a week earlier (yes, you read that right: s-e-v-e-n). More on that later.

Roma United, last season’s runners-up, were again frustrated to see a late goal deny them from taking maximum points. It was Bellafonte who put Roma out front on 11 November with his second of the season in the first half before national striker Mark Ebanks pulled Academy Sports Club level just before the three minutes of stoppage time expired.

 

A week earlier, Ebanks secured a hat-trick as Academy beat Sunset Football Club 4-2.

Latinos rebounded from their heart-break against Elite in the opener to take full points with a 2-1 win over Future Sports Club at the Annex on 10 November. Jarol Rizo and Marvel Hyde provided the Latinos goals, while 16-year-old Barry Dre Tibbetts scored his second of the season for Future before being issued a red card after getting into words with the referee.

It was Tibbets, fresh from a training stint with the youth academy at Atletico Madrid in Spain, who gave Future much to celebrate when his goal was the difference as last season’s President’s Cup winners beat Bodden Town FC at Ed Bush to start the season a week earlier.

Meantime, Bodden Town made light work of Tigers Football Club with a 6-0 win at the Annex on 10 November. Charlo McLean scored twice, while other goals came from Chris Hall, Andra Allen, Theron Wood, and Michael Martin.

At the same venue the following day, George Town SC got by East End United 2-0 with goals from Glidis Wright and Tex Whitelocke.

George Town SC (white/black) beat East End on 11 November.

The match between North Side and Tigers FC on 4 November was abandoned after a fight erupted that saw 10 players, seven from North Side and three from Tigers being issued with red cards. The matter is before the CIFA Disciplinary Committee.

Cayman Athletic are yet to get their season going, having secured two postponements as a result of their coaching staff and several players being on national duty at the CONCACAF U20 Men’s Championships. Their campaign is set to get going on Tuesday, 20 November against Alliance FC. Make-up dates against George Town and Sunset FC have yet to be announced.

Alliance and East End also have a game to make up after their opening week encounter was postponed due to issues with the field preparation in East End.

With Cayman Islands facing St Lucia in CONCACAF Nations League qualifying at Truman Bodden Sports Complex on Saturday, 17 November, there are no league games on that date. However, there is a full slate scheduled for Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. The Cayman Sports Buzz scoreboard ticker will be updated with half-time and full-time scores.

Unofficial CIFA Premier League Table as of 12 November 2018

POS TEAM GP W D L GF GA GD PTS
1 Elite SC 2 2 0 0 15 4 11 6
2 Scholars Int’l 2 1 1 0 4 1 3 4
3 Academy SC 2 1 1 0 5 3 2 4
4 Bodden Town FC 2 1 0 1 6 1 5 3
5 George Town SC 1 1 0 0 2 0 2 3
6 Latinos FC 2 1 0 1 4 4 0 3
7 Future SC 2 1 0 1 2 2 0 3
8 Roma United 2 0 2 0 2 2 0 2
9 Sunset FC 1 0 0 1 2 4 -2 0
10 East End Utd 1 0 0 1 0 2 -2 0
11 North Side FC* 1 0 0 1 0 3 -3 0
12 Tigers FC* 1 0 0 1 0 6 -6 0
13 Alliance FC 1 0 0 1 2 12 -10 0
14 Cayman Athletic 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

*Outcome of game before CIFA Disciplinary Committee

 

 

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