The race for the top spot in the Cayman Islands Football Association Men’s Premier League could not have been closer.
Heading into the last matches of the league on Sunday, 30 April, the top two teams, Elite SC and Scholars International, were tied at 30 points, with each posting nine wins, three draws and one loss.
Both teams would go on to win their final matches – Elite against Academy SC and Scholars against Roma United. However, it was Scholars who, for the third season straight, claimed the title based on goal differential.
“Hats off to Scholars, they have won the most leagues ever in Cayman,” Elite head coach Greg Ebanks told the Cayman Compass, while congratulating Scholars on their 14th title.
Scholars defeated Roma 5-1 at the Ed Bush Stadium, while Elite bested Academy SC 4-1 at the CIFA Centre of Excellence football pitch.
Ebanks admitted that his team were a mere two additional goals away from snatching the title from a “lucky” Scholars squad.
“The team that they played are not as competitive as Academy, so that’s an advantage that they had today,” Ebanks said. “It’s too late to turn back the hands of time, even after winning our last match, but once luck is on your side, you will forever gain the advantage.”
Ebanks said he would have preferred Elite’s final match to be against Scholars, noting that would have been the best-case-scenario to determine the league winner.
“Instead of us playing Academy and them playing Roma, it would have been good if we had the opportunity to play them for the last game of the season,” he said. “We played them three times for this season, and we were the better team in those three cases.”
In the end, Elite settled for second ahead of Academy. Ebanks added that he was proud of his boys for their efforts and there was always next year.
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