Wotton produced their best performance of this year’s BFA Premier League season, but a hat-trick from St Vincent and the Grenadines national player Kirtney Franklin helped Brittons Hill United secure a hard-fought 3-2 victory during Sunday’s triple-header at the Wildey Technical Centre.
The result leaves Wotton anchored at the bottom of the table, still without a point this season.
Franklin put Brittons Hill ahead in the 10th minute, but any thoughts of an easy night for last season’s runners up was shattered by a quick double strike from Wotton’s Khalil Vanderpool- Nurse, who scored the equaliser in the 34th minute, before giving his side the lead in the 37th, with Wotton visibly dominating on the pitch.
Both sides made several substitutions early in the second half, but there was no change in the scoreline until the 79th minute, before Franklin brought Brittons Hill level.
Christ Church based Wotton held on desperately but with four minutes left, Franklin completed his hat trick and the Brittons Hill fightback, before ripping off his shirt and wheeling away in celebration.
For Brittons Hill United stand-in coach Fabian Wharton, it was a stressful, but ultimately successful night.
“I’m just really happy to get the three points to be honest with you. Realistically though, we did play patches tonight. I think that sometimes we make things harder than it should be. When we decided to take our time and pass the ball as we normally do, we looked really good, but you know how it goes in football.”
“Some days you have a very good day and you lose. Some days you have an average day and you win. So we take the three points any time of the day,” he said.
Wharton was also effusive in his praise of Franklin, who he described as a top player.
“He’s one of the class players from Saint Vincent and what surprises me is the age they are. He’s only 20 years old and has already played senior national team football for Saint Vincent. So too has Stephen Pierre. This tells me that in Barbados we have to reassess what we are doing, because we have players coming from overseas at 20 years old already with national caps, but at the end of the day he’s a class act.”
“I was listening to the media all the time and I was smiling quietly because I was saying, no one is calling our name, which is a good thing. Therefore we could
sneak through the pack and start to run. But yes the results recently have really gone in our favor, to put us in a position to contest for the league.”
In the nightcap game that was played in torrential rain, defending champions Weymouth Wales showed signs of getting back to top form, with a 4-1 victory over UWI Blackbirds.
Wales began the game in perfect fashion as striker Keon Atkins opened his account for the season in the first minute. The former Deacons captain then scored goal number two in the ninth minute, as Blackbirds struggled to come to grips with the conditions and the pace of play.
Romario Harewood then made it 3-0 for Wales in the 36th minute, before Christopher Jacobs pulled a goal back for UWI in the 42nd minute.
With heavy rain making play difficult in the second half, conditions improved enough for veteran Wales defender Marioi Williams to score the game’s final goal in the dying seconds of the encounter.
Assistant Wales coach Andrew Jean, says the team played well, despite having to make numerous changes to the starting lineup.
“We had a really good first half and we moved the ball where we wanted to and
we kind of dominated the game. The second half was a bit scrappy and there is work to be done. Obviously we’re chasing the pack now, which is an unusual position, but there is a lot of football left to play. We’re finding a bit of momentum now and the guys are more focused.”
Earlier in the opening game, Kickstart Rush dropped key points in their battle to go clear at the top of the league, after being held to a draw by 2025 Division One champions St. Andrew Lions.
Shemar Edwards gave Lions the lead in the 60th minute, but Reymar Walters brought Kickstart back on level terms just two minutes later.
After a hard fought final few minutes with both teams pressing for victory, Lions coach Christopher King was happy with the point gained, but wishes his team could have held out for the win.
“That’s how the game goes sometimes so we can’t really stress on that. I’m happy for the point. We started the season a bit badly, we lost a few games and we won one, but we have drawn two and we’re trying to catch ourselves. We got a lot of new acquisitions in the team prior to the league starting, so we’re just trying to find our perfect gel.”
King says speeding up the integration process for the new players will be key, while still taking it one game at a time.
“It is not yet a best eleven but we have found a working eleven; as you know in Barbados, it’s hard seeing a lot of players due to work on certain days. So it’s a lot of mismatch and switch up as games come. I just try my best to work with what I got and put my faith in all the players.”
Play continues at the BFA Technical Centre on Tuesday, as Bagatelle face Eyre’s Meat Shop Pride of Gall Hill, while Ellerton tackle Paradise in a top of the table clash.
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