Joe Public FC won the opening Group D game of the Caribbean Club Championship with a convincing 5-0 victory over Walking Boys of Suriname on Wednesday night.

The 2009 Trinidad and Tobago 2009 Pro League champions controlled the game from the onset and seized the initiative in the 14th minute when their top marksman Kerry Baptiste had the simple task of sending his header into the net past goalkeeper Pierre Robert as he collected a left side cross unmarked in the centre of the box.

Joe Public doubled their advantage in the 27th minute when Japan-born midfielder Yu Hoshide met a loose ball on top the area and shot home with low drive.
Joe Public continued to take charge and went further ahead through Baptiste in the 322nd minute. He perfectly controlled a pass from Hayden Tinto before unleashing a thunderous volley into the roof of the net from the edge of the penalty box.

Walking Boys hardly threatened Joe Public custodian Marvin Phillip and they fell further behind when midfielder Trent Noel drilled his effort into the net in the 55th and substitute Andre Toussaint made it five on the stroke of full time with another long range effort which was sent low and hard into the left corner of the net.

In the second game of the double header, Trinidad’s San Juan Jabloteh were paced by two goals from Jason Marcano to get past Guyana’s Alpha United in their Group C encounter.

The game lacked the pace of the earlier encounter as Alpha turned out to be a little bit more of a challenge than expected for Jabloteh. Their two goals came as a result of defensive lapses. Marcano intercepted an intended back pass inside the left of the penalty box and nailed home to put Jabloteh 1-0 ahead in the 28th minute.

And with relatively little to excite the crowd in the remaining minutes, Marcano then sealed the three points with another clinical finish in the 66th minute when he punished the Alpha defence for napping and converted from close range.

Jabloteh goalkeeper Cleon John ensured a clean sheet when he moved smartly to his right to push away a 90th minute penalty by Howard Lowe.

The winners of these two groups are to advance to a final group stage, from which the top three finishers will qualify for the Preliminary Round of the CONCACAF Champions League.

Remaining fixtures

 Friday, April 16
Walking Boys (SUR) vs. System 3 (VIN) 6pm
Alpha United (GUY) team vs. River Plate (PUR) 8pm

Sunday, April 18
Joe Public (TRI) vs. System 3 (VIN) 6pm
San Juan Jabloteh (TRI) vs. River Plate (PUR) 8pm

(April 14,2010)