Thomas scores hat-trick in big Cavalier win

MIAMI, Florida:

Shaniel Thomas scored his second hat-trick of the 2023 Concacaf Caribbean Cup to lead Cavalier to a big 5-2 victory over Golden Lion of Martinique on Wednesday night at the Stade Pierre-Aliker in Fort-de-France.

It was Thomas’ second three-timer of the competition. On September 19, he scored all three goals in his team’s 3-0 win over Moca of the Dominican Republic. The Cavalier forward is the leading scorer in the competition with seven goals.

Cavalier could not have asked for a better start as they quickly grabbed a 1-0 lead in the sixth minute when a cross from Jalmaro Calvin from the right wing took a big deflection off the foot of Golden Lion defender Marvin Bellance, leaving goalkeeper Alan Rose wrong-footed as the ball rippled the net.

Calvin continued to be a nuisance on the right flank and made a big impact again in the 14th minute with a dashing run that ended with a strong right-footed finish for a 2-0 lead.

Calvin added another notch to his first-half belt with an assist on a Thomas goal in the 34th minute. Calvin got loose on the right channel before cutting back to Thomas, who swept in a shot past Rose to extend the Cavalier advantage to 3-0.

Thomas was once again at the right place at the right time in the 37th minute when an under-hit back pass allowed him to swoop in and score for a 4-0 Cavalier lead.

The Calvin-Thomas show continued into first-half stoppage time, and it was another pass from Calvin from the right and another powerful finish from Thomas to make it 5-0 at the break for the Jamaicans.

Golden Lion came out with a purpose to start the second half and pulled one back in the 51st minute through a Thierry Catherine header to make it 5-1. They then made it 5-2 in the 71st courtesy of Wilfrid Charloton’s finish inside the area, but in the end, the spoils and first-place finish in the group belonged to Cavalier.

Cavalier are on 10 points from four games in Group A, one ahead of Moca. Trinidad and Tobago’s Defence Force are third with five and Golden Lion in fourth with three.

- Courtesy of concacaf.com