Out-of-favour T&T midfielder Atualla Guerra was among the goals again as Charleston Battery defeated Bethlehem Steel FC on Saturday in their Eastern Conference United Soccer League clash.
Guerra opened the scoring a minute before the half-time interval with his fifth item of the campaign and second in successive matches for a 1-0 lead.
His teammate Gordon Wild doubled the advantage in the 53rd before Derrick Jones scored from the penalty-spot in the 65th minute to give Steel hope at the MUSC Health Stadium, Charleston, South Carolina.
The 30-year-old Guerra was eventually replaced in the Ian Svantesson in the 75th minute while fellow T&T defender Neveal Hackshaw played the full 90 minutes on the left side of a three-man Battery defence which managed to hold out for the win.
The win lifted the Battery to second on the 16-team table with 17 points from nine matches, the same as leaders FC Cincinnati and one more than defending champions Louisville City FC and Pittsburg Riverhounds, which both have a match in hand.
Cato leads Independence to a big win
T&T winger Cordell Cato also was among the goals in Charlotte Independence’s 4-1 thrashing of FC Cincinnati at Matthews Sportsplex, Matthews, North Carolina.
Cato, formerly of US Major League Soccer’s San Jose Earthquakes netted in the 38th minute for his third of the season and first since a double on March 17 versus Ottawa Fury.
Yann Ekra made it 2-0 on the stroke of half-time for the winners, now with 11 points from eight matches and tenth on the table.
Cincinnati which had England-born T&T defender Justin Hoyte in its line-up cut the lead in half in the 51st through Danni Koenig, but Kay Voser (57th) and Eamon Zayed (87th) netted second-half items to seal the win for Independence.
On Friday, Nathan Lewis and Carlyle Mitchell featured for fifth-placed Indy Eleven (14 points from eight matches) in a 0-0 draw at Pittsburg Riverhounds while Canada-born T&T goalkeeper Greg Ranjitsingh was beaten twice in defending champions, Louisville City FC 2-0 loss at Nashville SC on Sunday.
Garcia on the mark
In an international club friendly, Dutch-based winger Levi Garcia scored a 22nd minute item for his loan club, Excelsior which recorded a 9-0 blow-out of VV Hillergersberg on Wednesday at Sportapark Duivenpad, Rotterdam, Holland.
Garcia moved to Excelsior in the January winter transfer-window from AZ Alkmaar and helped the club to 11th spot with 40 points from 34 matches, while Alkmaar ended third on the 18-team table with 71 points, and a spot in next season’s Europa League competition along with fourth-placed Feyenoord.
The 20-year-old had struggled to get any playing time in the Eredivisie this season at Alkmaar and with Oussama Idrissi’s arrival from Groningen, AZ decided to send the winger on loan to Excelsior.
