Title contenders Paradise and Brittons Hill United will have to wait a little while longer before they can conclude their highly anticipated clash in the Barbados Football Association’s (BFA) Premier League.
That’s because the match, along with Sunday’s nightcap game involving defending champions Weymouth Wales and Kickstart, was postponed after thick smoke from a bush fire in the area of the BFA’s Technical Centre rendered the conditions unfit for further play.
Play was abandoned for the night during half time of the evening’s second encounter between second-placed Paradise and third-placed Brittons Hill United due to unsafe playing conditions.
At that point there had been no goals in the game.
The outcomes of both matches will have serious implications for the title race, with Wales holding a slender one-point lead over Paradise and Brittons Hill a further five points back with three rounds of matches remaining.
A decision is set to be made as to when the two matches will be played.
Earlier, in the day’s lone completed match, substitute Xavier Archer scored a 95th minute winner as UWI Blackbirds dug deep to secure a 2-1 victory over Bagatelle.
UWI took the lead in the 21st minute after a corner from Teon Cadogan from the left hand side sparked a goal mouth scramble, with Johan Goddard prodding the ball over the goalline to give his side a rare lead in what has been a challenging season.
That lead lasted just 10 minutes, however, before Bagatelle’s leading scorer Torian Joseph equalised for his side. The goal followed some questionable defending from UWI, with Joseph bursting through a group of players to poke the ball past goalkeeper K’den Hee Chung.
With no more goals before half time, UWI found themselves down to 10 men in the 57th minute when captain Tidre Arthur was sent off by referee John Griffith for apparent use of the elbow while battling for the ball with Bagatelle player Tyrese King.
With the game then seemingly destined for a draw amid increasing tension, Archer was left unmarked following a wonderful cross from Rojae Collins and headed home the winner in the fifth minute of stoppage time.
Moments later Bagatelle’s Azure Cumberbatch was sent off for a second bookable offense, as both teams finished the game with 10 players.
Blackbirds’ player Zion Gollop says they were relieved to salvage the three points after a tough game.
“I thought we showed good character to grind out the 2-1 win and we stayed together when the game got quite tough after going down a man in the second half. We can take positives from our work rate and resilience and taking the chances when we got them,” Gollop said.
Gollop has identified several potential points of improvement for the remainder of the season.
“Probably the game management, keeping concentration for the full 90 minutes and being a bit cleaner in possession at times, but there’s still room to grow and there is definitely something to build on,” he concluded.
(KH)
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