Seventh place Clayton’s Kola Tonic Notre Dame put Rendezvous to sleep last night with a 4-0 victory in the Digicel-sponsored Barbados Football Association’s Premier League played at the Wildey, St Michael AstroTurf.
Prior to that Weymouth Wales defeated Direct TV Paradise 3-0 to move up from fourth to second position and are jointly tied on 30 points with Mackeson Brittons Hill. The Dames are now on 19 points and that is just one behind sixth place Paradise on 20.
Weymouth Wales striker Hadan Holligan ran circles around Paradise defender Zico Phillips.
Dame’s victory over the dominant Rendezvous who currently lead the point standings on 32 points, was definite cause for celebration. It all started through a beautiful build-up play in the middle when Omani Leacock ran past three Rendezvous defenders and made a pass to Antonio Corbin on the right flank, Corbin then crossed the ball inside the box to Giancarlo Cobham who did the rest with his head and scored past custodian Kerry Holder in the 11th minute.
In almost every game Rendezvous have played in the league season they have held the majority of ball possession and against Notre Dame last night it was no different. However, the game changer came where as soon as Dames got possession they made best use of it with clinical finishes to put their opponents on the back foot. Leacock was in action again and made it 2-0 in the 16th minute.
When the second half commenced Rendezvous continued to apply pressure and with striker Shandel Samuels and experienced midfielder Carl Joseph on the attack they continued to search for that all-important goal but Notre Dame would again capitalize on their opportunities, even in wet slippery conditions.
Notre Dame’s Antone Greaves cuts betwen two players while coach Randolph Cox looks on.
Such was the case in the 67th minute when striker Akeem Hill got one past keeper Holder. One would swear that Notre Dame had won the league season and to put icing on the cake Leacock delivered another in the 75th minute to give Rendezvous a taste of what they have been dishing out all season.
Paradise found the going tough against Wales who have played 15 matches so far with eight wins, six draws and one loss along with a goal difference of 21.
Rendezvous need to win their next set of matches in order to keep ahead of the competition. Failing to do so would give Wales and company a chance to capture the title. All three of Wales’ goals were scored in the first half of the game when national player Kemar Headley netted in the 12th minute. The ball was played to Headley who took the shot from inside the box and Paradise goalkeeper Jason Boxhill failed to get down fast enough and allowed the ball to roll past him.
Then Hadan Holligan added his name to the score card in the 29th minute when defender Jadai Clarke did well to get past two defenders with a cross over to Holligan who finished well by volleying the ball past Boxhill.
Both Headley and Holligan have proved to be a very good combination for Wales. Headley came back and scored his second in the 32nd minute from a build-up play involving Lennie Regis and Clarke.