ROSS RUSSELL, coach of the Digicel Pro League leader Defence Force, is pleased with his team’s position atop the eight-team standings before the Christmas break.

Defence Force rebounded from a 1-0 deficit to thrash reigning champ W Connection on Friday in the second game of a Round One Match Day Seven doubleheader at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Mucurapo.

Russell, who guided Defence Force to the League crown in the 2010/2011 season, commented, “it always feels good to be back on top. We belong there because we’re playing for the League this year.

“So it’s a great feeling right now, going into the Christmas break,” added Russell, who also serves as the Trinidad and Tobago Under-20 coach.

On Wednesday, Defence Force were beaten 2-1 by National Super League outfit Stokely Vale FC in a Third Round TTFF (Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation) FA Cup meeting, at the Hasely Crawford Stadium.

And, on Friday, they fell behind to a Shahdon Winchester item in the 46th before an own goal by Daneil Cyrus in the 48th, followed by strikes from Aklie Edwards (53rd), Devorn Jorsling (56th and 66th), and Josimar Belgrave (81st), completed the sensational comeback.

“Normally in football, sometimes you have to give up something to get something,” said Russell. “The League is more important than the FA Cup right now for the Defence Force, because we like to play at the higher level, the CFU (Caribbean Club Championships) and CONCACAF (Champions League). We’re really aiming at that. Whatever we pick up other than that, we’ll be thankful really.”

The former national goalkeeper continued, “going down one-nil, it didn’t really bother (us) because we were playing well and had the better of the game.

“In the first 10-15 minutes of any game, it’s always a kind of unusual time. And it was an unusual goal so it didn’t really bother me much to say that they created anything to score the goal. We responded quickly enough.”

Concerning the spate of goals in the second half, Russell mentioned, “we planned to come and hustle them. We realised they were a little jaded from their long season so we (took) full advantage of that.”

Asked about the team’s plans for the next fortnight, Russell replied, “we have to keep training because the League starts back on (January) 4.

I’ll give them a Christmas Day and Boxing Day rest but we’ll be jamming right through, to keep maintaining our form and our position on top of the League.”

By Joel Bailey

Source: www.newsday.co.tt