Meridian Youth Milan were in paradise on Thursday night.
The St Lucy team can smell the champagne.
And if everything goes right, they may soon be tasting it as well.
The Digicel Premiership leaders moved even closer to the 2011 Barbados Football Association’s title with a 3-0 thumping of Paradise.
But the scoreline, though rather flattering to Milan, doesn’t tell the real story. In fact, it may be one of the ugliest wins they may have all season.
The three points, however, took them further away from their rivals, and closer to hoisting a championship trophy.
Milan were outplayed for the first 35 minutes by a Paradise side that was extremely productive in midfield through solid play from Kent Hall and Cody Mack.
The difference in the match? Milan got three chances, and scored each time.
Paradise looked good, but looking good doesn’t win football matches.
Milan’s best player on the night didn’t even get a shot at goal, since it was keeper Adrian Chase, whose solid play in goal made up for a very suspect looking defence.
Paradise’s achilles heel was the left side of defence, which had a gaping hole all night, and was eventually taken advantage of by Milan.
Thirty-five minutes of dominance in posession and attractive football were wasted by Paradise when, completely against the run of play, Milan took the lead.
Left-foot cannon
After a child-like mistake by Paradise defender Mark Cox in the middle of the penalty-area, Milan’s Dwayne Griffith blasted a left-foot cannon past custodian Jason Boxhill with ten minutes left before the half.
The goal left Paradise a discombobulated lot, and Milan had things their way until the break, even though no more goals were scored.
The bleeding didn’t stop for Paradise on resumption.
Both Hall and Mark tired early, and Paradise’s engine-room was effictively broken down.
Another mistake by the Christ Church side’s defence in the 75th minute sealed the match, as Antonio Griffith got a step ahead of the back-line and calmly slotted home.Veteran striker Kenroy Skinner then put the icing on the cake four minutes later, with a point-blank header after a brilliant initial foot-save by Boxhill.
His response was to run to the half-line, off the pitch, and give his coach Randolph Cox a huge chest-bump, an emotional hug, and three thunderous taps on the back.
It was like Milan were celebrating a title a tad early.In the evening’s first match, Pinelands and Wales played to an enterprising 1-1 draw.
Darian Wilson scored a smart left-booter after 30 minutes to give the Pine side the lead against the run of play. But Wales, the better organised team behind the play of Dwayne Stanford and Paul Lovell, drew even on the stroke of half-time when tall striker Ryan Grimes scored after being brilliantly set up by Lovell.
