San Pedro Undefeated!

The victorious San Pedro Dolphins

This has been a very hectic last eight days for the San Pedro team, first they had to travel to Belize City on Thursday for the away game against Yabra and they hosted them at Ambergris Stadium on Sunday. However, when it was all said and done the desired results as far as we were concerned had been achieved. The speculation had started since the draw with Juventus that it was only a matter of time before the Dolphins qualified to the next round.

On Thursday the contingent left the Texaco Dock at 5:10 p.m. en route to the M.C.C. in Belize City where Yabra was to make their stand against undefeated San Pedro. There was a sense of reserved confidence in the players since they knew that this was a very physical team and that comments had been made to the effect that they were already out and had nothing to lose so they were going to play hard.

Our boat arrived at the Fiesta Inn and immediately we crossed the street into the stadium to rest for a while and make the pre-game warm-up and strategy talk. Game time found us on the bench with the referees and Yabra nowhere to be seen. This is something that happens often in The City where teams from out-district are ready and the home team has not yet arrived. The game started at 7:45 and as expected it was fast paced with the ball coming and going in both direction and both defenses having to be on their toes. The coach had decided to give a break to the players that had been on the bench and that could come into play at any instant and they made the most of it. Landy, showing his ability, took the ball in the 7th minute and made the game 1 nil for the Dolphins. Yabra never gave up and so at the end of the first 45 minutes it was still a one goal ball game.

The whistle blew for the second half and John Trapp, Bonzo Trapp and Florentino Gonzalez took their usual spots on the filed. Again we had a very entertaining game with San Pedro pressing but the field was wet and slippery and the strikers were slowed down tremendously and many offside calls being made by the refereeing crew. Yabra on the other hand was playing their card with a tall Englishman who plays well and has a very good left bang, he put Brooks' in situations where he had to fly' several times. Anyway, Landy was up to the mark and almost from mid-field seeing that the defending keeper was a little bit too much out of his got area, almost from the mid-field spot sent an arching bullet that went right over the keeper's head and made the game two nil Dolphins to put us into solitary first place with 14 points.

San Pedro vs. Yabra #2

Sunday was to be the revenge for Yabra at Ambergris Stadium. The whistle blew at 3:00 p.m. and it was hard and close man to man play from Yabra from the get go. The referee was not up to shape and allowed the physical play to keep on instead of using his yellow card to settle the players a little bit. San Pedro was on top from the get go with constant plays in Yabra's red zone. At the fifth minute of play Landy got a pass but was fouled by a defender only to have Bonzo pick up the looses ball and slam into the net to open scoring.

Fans starting commenting that if it was going to be a goal every five minutes then they would feel like leaving because they would feel guilty. They didn't have long to wait because in the 9th minute Francisco 'Condor' Herrera got a beautiful pass from Landy, medium height, where with his momentum taking him forward he lunged at the ball heading it off the finger tips of the goal keeper and sends the fans into celebration for Condor's sake since it's his first goal since he came to the team one month ago. San Pedro was on a roll and the unrelenting attack did not let up for only three minute later again Bonzo finds himself in the middle of the red zone and let go a close range bullet to once again beat the befuddled Yabra goal keeper.

It just kept coming and a few minutes later he made a beautiful save when John Trapp found himself alone with the ball and let go a scorcher to which the keeper lived up to the moment and snatched away a sure score. Also Stanley Rice Robinson had a clear shot at the goal but instead he opted to cross it and so lost the score. This all sounds as though our keeper was only a spectator, no!!!! he made many saves in his own personal way. I say personal because he has his unique style and fans that have seen him will know what I mean. At the 26th minute of the first half again Francisco gets an opportunity to increase the score but the keeper slaps it out only to slap it directly to Landy who does not miss and makes it 4 goals to nil for San Pedro.

San Pedro fans were finally quieted in the 39th minute of play when from the left flank an opposing defender gets around the defense and advances towards 'Brooks,' who was caught off guard, tries to cut the angle but the shot is high and he manages to touch the ball but not enough to prevent it from slipping under the crossbar and into the goal for the 4 to 1 score that ended the first half.

It was only 3 minutes of the second half when one of the substitutes, Oscar Pinelo, makes good on a free break he is given by the defense and booms a shot, about a foot away from the keeper who was frozen by the viciousness of the shot. Yabra once again figures in the score when they are awarded a corner kick after 'Brooks' makes a beautiful save but this time the tall Englishman, Egbert Thompson, beats everyone to the ball and heads in for the second goal for his team.

This fired up the other Yabra players and the game became even more physical and in the 21st minute the fans showed their displeasure with Yabra's roughness when Egbert dealt and elbow to 'Bonzo' and the fans showered him with orange peel. The referee did the only thing he could do, eject him, since this was the straw that broke the camel's back; he had given him a yellow card and many verbal warnings before. At this point in the heat of the moment some one might throw something harmful and this is grounds to have our stadium banned from hosting home games. The scoring mercifully ended for Yabra at the 33rd minute when 'Bonzo' does the hat trick and scores his third to end the game at a score of 6 goals to 2 for the now officially qualified to the next round San Pedro Dolphins.

The Northern League standings are:
San Pedro Dolphins 17, Juventus 12, Corozal 10, Acros 9, and Yabra 1. The Dolphins meet Acros in Belize City on Sunday, November 16th, to play the last match of the 2nd Round. A dispute is pending in the Southern League. The top three teams in both leagues will play in the Semi-finals. To date San Pedro is the only team to have secured a playoff position.

	San Pedro Undefeated!

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