Source: www.guardian.co.tt
By:Nigel Simon
Atiba Whittington scored on either side of the half as T&T senior men’s team edged Chile 4–3 to get their first win in two matches at the Four-Nation Classic hosted by Field Hockey Canada in celebration of its 20th anniversary at Wright Field, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, on Monday night. After going under to host Canada on Friday 2–0 in its opener, the local squad led by Darren Cowie of Queen’s Park were eager to bounce back against the South Americans and got the perfect start when Whittington of Petrotrin opened the scoring from field goal play as early as the fourth minute while Paragon’s Akim Toussaint assured T&T of a 2–0 lead at the interval when he scored from a penalty-corner in the 32nd minute.
On the resumption, Chile, which was also blanked 2–0 by Canada in its first match on Saturday, reduced the deficit in the 47th minute with a field goal from Jan Richter. However, ten minutes later, Notre Dame’s Aidan De Gannes restored T&T’s two-goal cushion at 3–1 with a penalty-corner conversion of his own before Whittington made it 4–1 in the 64th minute with his second field goal of the match. With the minutes ticking away, Chile mounted a late charge and got two goals in the space of a minute, 67th and 68th, from captain Esteban Krainz to set up a nervous final two minutes for T&T, which managed to hold on for the win.
The clash between the T&T, coached by Holland’s Bas Bruin, and Chile was a physical one as the quartet of Andrew Vieira (21st), Kwandwane Browne (44th), Mickel Pierre (52nd) and Dwain Quan Chan (68th) all picked up green cards along with Fernando Binder of Chile, who also received a yellow card. Last night the T&T men came up against Canada for the second time while they meet Chile tonight from 9.30 pm followed by Canada again on July 22 and Chile, a day later. For T&T, Cowie and De Gannes will play no further part in the tour as the duo are expected to return home today due to personal commitments.
While the local men secured a first win, the national women’s team losing streak was extended to three matches after a narrow 1–0 loss to Canada ‘A’ with Marian Dickinson scoring the lone goal, a minute before half-time. Once again, main forward Blair Wynne did not feature for T&T. The ‘Calypso Stickwomen’ were beaten in their two previous matches against Canada (6–0) and Chile 11–0. Today, national women’s team coach Anthony Marcano and his charges will hope to end their dreaded run against Chile from 5 pm while tomorrow they face Canada at 9 pm and Japan on July 23. In Monday’s other women’s match, Canada and Chile battled to a 0–0 draw.
fixtures
Today:
Chile vs T&T (women) - 5 pm
Canada vs Japan (women) - 7 pm
Chile vs T&T (men) - 9.30 pm
Tomorrow:
Canada vs Chile (men) – 5 pm
Japan vs Chile (women) - 7 pm
Canada vs T&T (women) - 9 pm
Friday,:
Canada vs T&T (men) - 9 pm
Saturday:
Japan vs T&T (women) – 5 pm
Canada vs Chile (women) - 4 pm
Chile vs T&T (men) - 6.30 pm
Sunday:
Third place playoff (women) - 11 am
Canada vs Chile (men) 1.30 pm
Women’s Final - 4 pm