Weymouth Wales are undeniably the undisputed kings of football in Barbados.
In an emotionally charged final at the Wildey AstroTurf on Sunday night that saw five players sent off, Wales kept their composure to demolish Wotton 6-1 and win the Republic Cup and take home $30 000 for the second successive year.
The lopsided scoreline, however, did not reflect the competitiveness of the game, which was tied 1-1 at the end of regulation time.
A goalless first half saw both team missing several opportunities, with Wales having the most clear cut chance when Zeco Edmee found himself open in front of goal, but Wotton defender Rico Lorde came to his side’s rescue with a sliding tackle to avert any danger.
The speedy Nadre Butcher was a constant threat on the left wing for Wales, but despite some promising runs into the box he found no success in the final third.
The drama unfolded in the second half, when Wales’ Mario Williams along with Rickneco Marshall and Rico Lorde from Wotton were all sent off in the 47th minute after being involved in an altercation.
But despite being down to nine-men, Wotton took a surprise lead in the 67th minute when Omani Leacock’s pinpoint pass sent Jamal Chandler clean through on goal and he kept his cool to slot past Wales’ advancing keeper Kishmar Primus to make it 1-0.
However, three minutes later the Christ Church-based side failed to properly defend their advantage and paid the price when Akeem Ifill’s header from a Wales corner took a deflection on its way into the back of the net past Wotton’s custodian Saheka Duke to make it 1-1.
Wales were also reduced to nine men in the 82nd minute when Ifill received a second yellow card for a dangerous challenge on Chandler, setting the stage for an exciting finish.
And Wotton should have grabbed the winning goal minutes from full time when Darian King found himself one-on-one with Primus after Wales thought he was offside.
But to Wotton’s dismay, King sent his left-footed shot wide of the post with the goal at his mercy.
That miss proved to be extremely costly for Wotton, as Wales ran rampant in extra time.
Wales made it 2-1 in the 91st minute after Hayden Holligan played a neat 1-2 with Zachary Applewhite on the right side of the box, before Applewhite laid it off to Shaquille Stuart who slotted home from point blank range.
Six minutes later Butcher fittingly gave the defending champions a two-goal cushion when he produced another brilliant run on the left flank, rounded an advancing Duke and buried his shot in the back of an empty net.
Leacock then made things worse for Wotton when he too was given his marching orders after picking up a second yellow card.
Applewhite (107th minute), Renaldo Marques (111th) and Stuart, who grabbed a brace in the 113th minute, then completed the rout.
For Wales’ head coach Carlos Jackman, the result was a dream come true, with his side having already copped the Premier League and Champions Cup titles.
“The first half didn’t really go to plan, the guys’ mentalities weren’t really there and we let the opposition get under our skin a little bit, but the second half was a much better showing and we played what we practiced to play.
“We were a little better in the second half and once we got the equalizer it was all over. The numerical advantage for sure made the game a little easier for us but that aside I think we still played a great game,” Jackman told Barbados TODAY moments after the referee blew the final whistle.
“I feel elated, elated and tired to be honest. The next few weeks I’ll just relax for a little bit and begin to get ready for the Premier League season next year.”
Meanwhile, Wotton’s disappointed head coach Shirlan Gibbons pointed to a lack of discipline from his players which led to three of them being sent off, with two of them being shown straight reds following a scuffle in the second half.
He said having those players sent off was the turning point in the contest.
“I think the guys fought pretty well. A lot of discipline needs to be dealt with as far as the team is concerned,” Gibbons said.
“The red card should never have happened because the player was not involved in the scuffle so he should never have found himself in that. That was the game changer because to score with one man short shows that we were still in control of the game, but the Wales team has a lot of ability so if you make those errors they should capitalize on them and that’s exactly what they did.”
Butcher took home the awards for Best Midfielder, as well as Senior and Junior Player of the tournament.
Mario Willams of Wales was adjudged the Best Defender, Brittons Hill’s Shaquille Frank won the award for Best Goalkeeper.
Jabarry Chandler of Wotton and Zuhri Morris of Empire both scored the most goals in the tournament (14).
In the third place game, UWI Blackbirds edged Brittons Hill 3-1, thanks to strikes from Jadon Cave (48th), Rovaldo Massiah (66th) and Jaron Oughterson in the 80th minute.
Ray Francis scored the lone goal for Brittons Hill in the 21st minute.
