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On Wednesday 17th September, 2008 at 3:45PM, the Royalians face Trinity College at Moka.

After three outings in the 2008 season, Trinity is the bottom-placed team in the zone with no points.  Thus far, they have been on the receiving end of 7-2, 3-nil and 9-1 scorelines versus St. Anthony’s, Fatima and Mucurapo.  Given their performances so far, this is a team that should spring no surprises on the Royalians.

QRC’s seven points to date were garnered in a 2-2 draw at home against Mucurapo , a 1-nil win away to Malick and a 4-1 win away to CIC.  In the first game, QRC relaxed and permitted the Mucurapo unit to come back from two goals down.  In the second, good football against a scrappy Morvant side produced few scoring opportunities.  It was in the CIC game that the boys’ training and preparation finally came together.

The Royalians will be going into the Trinity game on a high, and with some confidence given Mucurapo’s nine goals against the Moka lads on Saturday.  Further, they will likely be looking forward to good practice before their final first round games at home to St. Anthony’s and Fatima.  If not a goal spree featuring Britto, Clarke, Jones, James, Griffith and others, QRC supporters can likely look forward to an exhibition in midfield possession and a display of effective defensive work.

1st XI Football site SchoolSoccerNet.com aptly headlines their coverage of the match, “QRC whip ‘Saints’ 4-1“, and scoreline belies the quality ball that was played on the day.

While humbled, arch-rivals St. Mary’s College could not be considered humiliated on the day, because they did bring their A-game on Saturday.

CIC came out with their throttle open and guns blazing, and sought to take control of the game with blistering pace and attacking football.  Throughout the first half though, QRC was content to hold in defence, knock the ball around the midfield making optimal use of the full width of the field, and knock a pass to strikers Jerrel Britto and Jeron Jones as opportunities presented.

St. Mary’s shots were never uncontested, their strikers and attacking midfielders always marshalled last stopper Kareem Richardson and his backline.  QRC’s keeper Kareem Joseph also showed very good hands in the soggy conditions, and had displayed neither respect for nor fear of the CIC attack.

CIC went in at half time with nothing to show for their efforts.

The Royalians took to the field first to start the second half, and began by committing more to the attack and that more purposefully.  CIC though opened their account against the run of play to secure their lone item on the day.  Almost immediately on the restart though, QRC won themselves a penalty ably taken by Rashaad Griffith, sending the CIC keeper the wrong way.

The shock of the near immediate equaliser seemed too much for the Saints morale.  While they remained offense-minded, they also seemed unable to come forward cohesively.

QRC on the other hand continued to build from the middle, using the width of the field well, and eventually nailing their second item with poise from a left-side corner.  ”Poise” however could best be used to describe Jerrel Britto’s strikes, sealing the game with two near identical strikes in the space two minutes.

Where other top flight teams – St. Anthony’s, Fatima and CIC – have played each other in two games so far and drawn 2-2 in one case and 3-3 in another, QRC’s 4-1 drubbing is a clear signal of their intention and ability to take silverware home at the end of the season.

QRC and Mucurapo sit second on the zone table, each with seven points but QRC having a game in hand.  They are followed by St. Anthony’s on five and St. Mary’s on four.  Neither Malick nor Trinity have secured points for the season so far, but the former sits ahead on goal difference.  Fatima sits atop the table on 10 points.  This is a position which can be upset though when QRC faces Trinity in the next round of matches as the Mucurapo-based outfit will be on their first round bye.

QRC faces Trinity College at Moka on Wednesday 17th September.  Kickoff time is 3:45PM.

QRC finished the game with a 1-nil win, but we could have beaten Malick by as many as 4 or 5 clear.

The Morvant team’s keeper showed a good pair of hands and credit must be given where it is due.  However, our frontline could have done more with the ball.  Between players gaping as star striker and national Under-17 captain Jerrel Britto ran with the ball, and Britto himself not recognizing when help was available to him, the team didn’t capitalise on a number of scoring opportunities.

Otherwise, the defence, marshalled for another year by Kareem “Ritchie” Richardson, looked tight and composed for the most part.  And the midfield, when showing requisite intensity, managed to both hold possession for lengthy stretches and to dispossess the wilder and rougher Malick players.

We will take the point, but with other teams in the zone seeming to score at will, we need to start establishing some goal difference cushion and that early.

After its two games, the team sits third on the zone table with four points.  They are behind Fatima on nine points from three games and St. Anthony’s, also on four point but with a superior goal difference.  Rounding out the table are Mucurapo and St. Mary’s, both on four points from three games.  Neither Malick nor Trinity have managed to secure point from their three and two matches respectively.

QRC travels to face St. Mary’s College on Saturday 13th Spetember.  Kick-off time is 3:45PM.  All Royalians and supporters are encouraged to attend.  This match too will get Livecast treatment by QRC.edu.

As the schedule indicates, QRC faces Malick Senior Comprehensive this afternoon in an away game at the Hasely Crawford Stadium.  Match time is 3:45PM.

For this match, QRC.edu is testing a new feature to permit those who cannot attend access to live Royalian commentary online.  Readers are invited to open a browser window to the following link in order to access this new web service:

http://www.qrc.edu/livecast.html

Based on a feed from microblogging service Twitter, the page is designed to update itself every 45 seconds, and will thus present the viewer with any new comments automatically.

Alternatively, Twitter subscribers may follow tweets posted by user “qrccommentator“.  Any web user may also follow the Twitter feed at the following link.  Users will have to manually refresh this page however as it does not automatically update.

http://twitter.com/qrccommentator/

Feedback on this new service will be greatly appreciated.

QRC commenced its 2008-2009 campaign with a 2-2 draw against Mucurapo Senior Comprehensive at home.

By reports, the Royalians had the better of the early opportunities, taking advantage of two of them to go into the halftime interval 2-0 ahead.  Mucurapo’s now fabled fitness however wore on the boys late in the game, leading eventually to an apparent offside goal and then a late equalizer.

QRC next faces Malick Senior Comprehensive in an away game at the National Stadium on Wednesday 10th September, 2008.  Kickoff time is 3:45pm.

QRC.edu thanks Old Boy Ramesh Ramdeen for his snapshots on Friday’s match.

QRC’s campaign in the 2008 Secondary Schools Football league kicks off this afternoon with a match at home versus Mucurapo Senior Comprehensive at 3:45PM.  The complete listing of scheduled league fixtures is as follows.

Round 1

Fri 05 Sep – Mucurapo at QRC

Wed 10 Sep – QRC at Malick (National Stadium)

Sat 13 Sep – QRC at CIC

Wed 17 Sep – QRC at Trinity (Moka)

Sat 20 Sep – St. Anthony’s at QRC

Mon 22 Sep – Fatima at QRC

Round 2

Thu 25 Sep – QRC at Mucurapo (Fatima Grounds)

Tue 30 Sep – Malick at QRC

Sat 04 Oct – CIC at QRC

Mon 06 Oct – Trinty at QRC

Wed 08 Oct – QRC at St. Anthony’s

Sat 11 Oct – QRC at Fatima

Kick-off time for all matches is 3:45PM.

QRC.edu wishes the team well as they embark on this year’s championship level campaign, and encourages all students, parents, staff, alumni and well-wishers to come out in support of the boys.