Sunday, February 10 2008

TRINIDAD and Tobago strikers Stern John and Jason Scotland were on target yesterday in the English Leagues.

It was a welcome return to form after the duo was nullified on Wednesday in the Soca Warriors’ friendly international versus Guadeloupe at the Queen’s Park Oval in Port-of-Spain which ended goalless.

TT’s all-time top scorer Stern John scored a late goal for Southampton in the English League Championship fixture against Queen’s Park Rangers but this was not enough as the Saints went down 3-2.

Darren Powell had put the Saints ahead in the first minute but Martin Rowlands levelled in the 38th and Patrick Agyemang scored a brace in the 45th and 60th to give QPR a 3-1 lead.

Southampton midfielder Youssef Safri was shown a red card in the 78th minute before Stern John grabbed a late consolation for the home side which slipped to 18th in the league.

John connected well with a low shot with his right foot after a good cross from Jason Euell on the right flank to make it 3-2 for the Saints who were outplayed by the visitors for most of the game. Meanwhile, in the English League One, Jason Scotland blasted Swansea ahead 1-0 versus Crew Alexander with a ninth-minute penalty and were lucky to go 2-0 up after Gary Roberts scored an own goal in the 40th.

But the home-side, buoyed by their supporters surged forward against Swansea who with Dennis Lawrence defended wave after wave of attacks but finally broke in the 82nd when Julien Baudet scored a low header.

And Tom Pope stole a share of the points for Crew in extra time with a fizzing shot just inside the penalty area that flew past the Swansea goalkeeper and into the net to make it 2-2.