MARABELLA, Trinidad, CMC – Skipper Marvin Oliver scored two second half-goals to inspire San Juan Jabloteh to a 3-0 win over Panamanian side San Francisco FC on Thursday and propel the Trinidadian club into the group stage of the CONCACAF Champions League.
Playing at the Mannie Ramjohn Stadium, Oliver scored two goals in the space of 15 minutes, after Hector Sam had given Jabloteh the lead in the 29th minute.
Leading 1-0 at the break, Jabloteh got the lead on 61 minutes when Oliver headed Noel Williams’ cross past goalkeeper William Negrete.
Oliver then put the tie in Jabloteh’s favour when he poked home a loose ball after Negrete parried a save from an Elton John free kick.
After losing the first leg 2-0 last week, the comprehensive victory gave Jabloteh a 3-2 triumph on aggregate, and ensured they joined Mexican side Toluca, Marathon of Honduras and American Major League Soccer side DC United in Group B.
The win was the second in as many days in the tournament by a Trinidadian side, following W Connection’s 2-1 win New York Red Bulls in New Jersey on Wednesday.
It was the visitors who almost went ahead early on when Rolando Algandona fired into the side netting from an acute angle instead of squaring the ball for an unmarked team-mate.
Sam then wasted the best chance of the opening 20 minutes when he was fed a pass by Oliver just inside the 18-yard box but after rounding the goalkeeper, hesitated and had his goal-ward effort turned away for a corner by a retreating defender.
Four minutes later, San Francisco was reduced to ten men by Guyanese referee Stanley Lancaster when left back Carlos Rivera kicked a loose ball into Oliver’s head and was given marching orders.
It took the dominant Jabloteh only six minutes to capitalize on their man advantage as Sam collected a through-ball on the left side of the box, worked his way into the area before unleashing a left-footed shot past Negrete.
Jabloteh continued to pile on the pressure with winger, Lester Peltier and left back Noel Williams creating a few problems for San Francisco with their pace, but the score remained 1-0 at the interval.
Twelve minutes after resumption, Jabloteh lost midfielder Devon Jamerson to a second yellow card for a silly foul on San Francisco captain Victor Suarez but four minutes later Oliver squared the tie with his opening goal.
Williams speared in a pin-point cross from the left-side and Oliver produced a glancing header to send Jabloteh 2-0 up.
Oliver then wrapped up the game for the Trinidadians 14 minutes from the end when John floated in a free kick which the striker failed to get his head to.
Negrete failed to gather the ball cleanly and Oliver stabbed home a right footed effort past two defenders to the delight of the small crowd on hand.
Three minutes from the end, San Francisco wasted a glorious chance to get an important away goal when striker Alfaro fired wide of the goal from six yards out.
