Sports
Roneil Walcott
FOR the second straight campaign, Defence Force (36 points) have left heads turning in the TT Premier Football League (TTPFL) top flight, after running up a mind-boggling scoreline in a league fixture. In the second game of a double-header at the Ato Boldon Stadium, Couva on January 25, Defence Force hammered the cellar-placed Terminix La Horquetta Rangers (nine points) 9-0 to make a huge statement in their title-defence.
Last year, Defence Force made a similar statement en route to copping the 2024/25 title, as they decimated a hapless Eagles FC team 10-0 in April 2025. The Army/Coast Guard combination romped to last season’s league title on the back of 20 wins and two draws.
In their ruthless rout of Rangers in Couva, Defence Force were powered by a pair of new signings as lanky forward Nicholas Dillon and playmaker Joevin Jones both scored hat-tricks to consolidate their team’s three-point lead atop the 2025/26 table. In the first game of the double-header, the second-placed Club Sando (33 points) got an equally important victory as they edged the third-placed Miscellaneous Police FC (27 points) 1-0. In the top-three clash, Sando were powered by nippy forward Tarik Lee, who scored his ninth goal of the season when he netted in the 22nd minute.
In the top versus bottom clash which followed, Defence Force didn’t take long to assert their dominance, as they scored three goals in ten minutes to run out to a 3-0 halftime lead. Jones opened the scoring in the 12th minute, with returning central defender Jamali Garcia netting in the 16th minute before midfielder Rivaldo Coryat made it 3-0 in the 21st minute.
The Army scored three goals in ten minutes again to kickstart the second half, with Dillon getting his first and Jones and fellow playmaker Kevin “Nash” Molino also scoring to swell their team’s lead to 6-0 by the 57th minute.
As they continue to bolster their squad ahead of their Concacaf Champions Cup tie with Philadelphia Union, which commences on February 18, Defence Force gave appearances to defenders Triston Hodge and Keston Julien, both of whom are new signings. Neither player featured on the score summary, but they had the best seat in the house to see Jones clinch his hat-trick in the 61st minute.
Late on, Dillon added to the massacre by completing his hat-trick, which came in the third minute of second-half stoppage-time, to wrap up the nine-goal onslaught.
In Couva on January 28, the TTPFL action is scheduled to resume with a double-header. From 6 pm, the sixth-placed MIC Central FC Reboot (18 points) will tackle the seventh-placed San Juan Jabloteh (15 points), with the fourth-placed Prisons FC (26 points) taking on 2023/24 champs AC Port of Spain (22 points) from 8 pm. AC PoS are currently fifth on the 12-team table.
TTFPL tier one standings:
Team*GP*W*D*L*GF*GA*GD*Pts
Defence Force*14*11*3*0*39*12*27*36
Club Sando*14*11*0*3*34*7*27*33
Police FC*14*8*3*3*27*15*12*27
Prisons*13*8*2*3*22*12*10*26
AC Port of Spain*13*6*4*3*22*16*6*22
MIC Central FC*13*5*3*5*21*25*-4*18
Jabloteh*13*4*3*6*22*29*-7*15
Caledonia*14*4*1*9*23*28*-5*13
1976 FC Phoenix*13*4*0*9*16*30*-14*12
Eagles FC*13*3*1*9*20*28*-8*10
Point Fortin*14*3*1*10*12*28*-16*10
La Horquetta Rangers*14*2*3*9*11*39*-28*9
