JAMAL CHANDLER showed no mercy for his former teammates by scoring a hat-trick to lead Barbados Defence Force (BDF) to a 5-0 demolition of DirecTV Paradise at the Wildey AstroTurf on Sunday night.
Playing in the second match of a Digicel Premier League football double-header, Chandler was on target in the 31st, 61st and the third minute of stoppage time following goals by Tramane Cobham and Kyle Gibson in the 13th and 24th minutes. The victory carried BDF to a table-leading ten points from four games.
In the night’s first game, an Arantees Lawrence double strike gave Mackeson Brittons Hill a 2-0 victory over Families First St John Sonnets.
Lawrence met Riviere Williams’ free-kick with a diving header in the 73rd minute at the back post while he converted a penalty in the 85th minute. The penalty was awarded after Tyson Mullins was red-carded for fouling Walton Burrowes, who slipped the Sonnets’ defence and had only goalkeeper Bernard Howell to beat.
   After three clean sheets, the Paradise defence and goalkeeper Jason Boxhill were torn apart by the pace and penetration of the BDF midfielders and forwards. Barry Skeete, who has a tendency to push forward whenever his side is down, left Mark Cox and Jamar Thomas with too much to do while Jonathan Straker and Andre Bourne were unable to cope with the constant BDF threat from Mario Harte, Chandler, Gibson and Rashad Jules.
To compound matters, Paradise midfielders Kent Hall, Jomo Hall and Rakim Lashley, who was played wide on the right side, weren’t always able to get back on defence or prevent the outlet passes from BDF’s Dwayne O’Garro, Akeem Browne, Cobham and Teriq Highland, who gave a stellar display, alongside the rugged Paul Alexander in the BDF defence.
Paradise paid dearly for trying to match the speedy and fitter BDF players in a fast-paced game. Cobham opened the floodgates with a superb strike from an acute angle on the left side of the 18-yard box, which beat Boxhill at his near post.
Chandler then put on a show against the much-vaunted Paradise defence. First, he fed Gibson with a delightful ball which split the Paradise defence and the lanky striker confidently placed a low left-foot shot past the advancing Boxhill.
Paradise could consider themselves unlucky when Chandler, in trying to get around Bourne, unintentionally caused him to tumble to the ground.
With no whistle forthcoming from the referee, Chandler was left with only Boxhill to beat. His first shot was parried by the goalkeeper only for Chandler to knock in the rebound.
His second goal came when he sprinted past the Paradise defence to collect a through ball supplied by Gibson. Chandler faked the advancing Boxhill with some fancy footwork before scoring.
Harte was the provider for Chandler’s treble, flicking the ball across the Paradise area for a waiting Chandler to hit home. This goal came after substitute Raheim Sargeant had been blocked in his attempt to get the ball across to his unmarked BDF teammates.
