In a poor display of sportsmanship and discipline, a guest-player appearing for CPTSA Wings forced the referee to end their Warriors Cup contest against Garden Stars – who were leading 3-1 at that stage – prematurely with eight minutes to go when he refused to leave the field of play after being shown a red card for serious foul play.
To compound his unbecoming behaviour, the player then ran from the centre of the field to push down the goal on the southern side of the Radio Range Playing Field on Sunday.
Organisers say they are withholding the identity of the player until they can ascertain whether he’s a minor, having already decided to ban him from the tournament.
The unsavoury incident unfolded after 82 minutes when the referee showed the player a straight red for recklessly bringing down from behind a Garden Stars player inside the centre-circle.
As the referee brandished the card, the player – who initially appeared to be leaving the field but was ushered back on by a section of the spectators – then became angry and returned to tell the referee he was not going off.
The referee waited for the player to exit but instead he proceeded to single-handedly floor the goal. At this point, the referee had no option but to blow off the game.
Organisers had no hesitation in awarding the three points to Garden Stars which took them to the maximum nine from three matches.
“It’s unfortunate what happened transpired because the game had developed into a keenly-contested tussle before it ended on a sour note,” a release said. “Wings had taken the lead through Joylan Sinclair who pounced on a loose ball to lift over the advancing goalkeeper on seven minutes as the unbeaten leaders were given an early scare.”
Garden Stars rallied strongly and drew level after 20 when Tarek Charles curled a grounder into the far corner from an acute angle on the apex of the 18-yard box after being fed by an assist from goalkeeper Courtnie ‘Igor’ Roberts who found him with a piercing goal-kick volley.
Stars should have taken the lead before the interval but winger Sedique Adams watched his dipping shot crash off the underside of the crossbar as the ball rebounded into play. It caused the spectators to muse about the prospect of goal-line technology to determine if the ball had scored.
Leading marksman Karique Knight – who has five goals to his tally – put Stars ahead three minutes after half-time when he hooked a shot into the top corner from just inside the area. Two minutes later, Allan Martin gave them a two-goal cushion when he tapped home a cross from close-range.
Earlier, El-Roy Roache netted the first hat-trick of this year’s tournament to spur Master Ballerz to a 6-2 drubbing of Young Warriors to secure their second win and move to second place. Warriors’ goals came courtesy of a Zaheim Greene penalty and an own goal.
