Weymouth Wales are proving to be unstoppable.
The green machine from Carrington Village moved six points clear at the top of the 2023 Barbados Football Association (BFA) Premier League with a 3-0 victory over arch-rivals Brittons Hill on Sunday night at the Wildey Turf.
In the highly anticipated top-of-the-table clash, first half strikes from Barbados senior men’s national players Nadre Butcher and Ackeel Applewhaite along with a sublime free kick compliments Rashad Smith, gifted Wales a sixth consecutive win and maintained their perfect record so far this season.
Applewhaite played an integral role as Wales broke the deadlock in the 22nd minute, evading two defenders before drilling a cross-field diagonal ball to Butcher. The teenage sensation then took the perfectly-timed pass in stride before slotting past Brittons Hill’s custodian Shaquille Frank.
It was the first time for the season that the previously unbeaten Brittons Hill found themselves trailing and it went from bad to worse as a lapse of concentration in their defense allowed Applewhaite to double Wales’ lead.
Applewhaite was the beneficiary of a mind-boggling error at the back and wasted no time pouncing on Brittons Hill’s back-line, before hammering the ball into the back of the net with his favourite left foot, six minutes before the half.
Brittons Hill and their talisman Corey Hoyte, who celebrated his 21st birthday on the night, struggled to penetrate Wales’ solid defense marshalled by Mario Williams and Akeem Hill. The centre-half pair ensured goal keeper Kishmar Primus enjoyed a quiet night as Brittons Hill hardly threatened, with their leading goal scorer Hoyte failing to muster a single shot on target in the contest.
Brittons Hill’s best chance came mid-way through the second half as they began to play with more purpose on the attack.
Hoyte latched onto a ball down the right flank, darted into the box and sliced a dangerous cross along the carpet, only for the unmarked Kishmar Wade to unbelievably put it over the bar.
Wales then capped off another winning performance when Smith produced a powerful right-footed free kick from the edge of the box after Frank was adjudged to have handled the ball.
“My objective in every game is to score goals. I put a little pressure on myself to do more but I am just enjoying it. This is a big boast for me as I go into camp for the national team. I am always a confident person and I don’t think anything can break me,” Butcher said during a post-match interview.
His teammate Sheran Hoyte said Wales are extremely confident this season.
“Both teams won all their games before this match and it was a really good game. We played football and showed we were the better team on the day. Brittons Hill is a good side as well but we are better. Now we have a comfortable lead. The season is still young so we have to keep up the good work and momentum and don’t go to sleep, [and] play every game like we need the three points. We are the team to beat,” Hoyte maintained.
In other results, Nicholas Best scored in the 70th minute as BDFSP defeated UWI Blackbirds 1-0, while goals from Jamaican Omando Mcleod and Brazilian Daniel Calvi in the 41st and 81st minutes respectively gave Empire a 2-1 win over Notre Dame.
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