Tusty hits the back of the net

Marlon “Tusty” James has taken his tally to 23 goals in the Malaysian Football League. James was the lone scorer in Kedah’s 1-0 win recently over Pahang at the Darulaman Stadium, in front of what reports say was a 25,000-strong home crowd.{{more}}

James’ goal came in the tenth minute when, according to reports, he met a floater with a deft flick to beat Mohd Syamsuri Mustafa in the Pahang goal.

The tall striker could have doubled his tally and that of his team, but with only 40 seconds on the clock, James got a free header from a Nelson Martin corner but failed to get on target.

Despite this miss, James is above all in goal scoring and is the favourite candidate, barring injury, to fetch the Golden Boots Award. The win for Kedah landed them the Super League trophy, a title that they knew was in their grasp about three weeks ago.

Another Vincentian, defender Cornelius Huggins, was also in the spotlight on the night. It was Huggins, who is the team’s stand in as captain, who went to the podium to formally receive the Super League trophy and gold medals from Sultan Abdul Halim Mu’adzam Shah.

The report said that the Kedah players then went on a victory lap to parade the trophy around the stadium.

Last Saturday’s match served as a prelude to the two-legged FA Cup semi-final between the two sides in June.

Kedah bagged an unprecedented treble last year, and is also the first side in the history of the Malaysian League to successfully defend the Super League trophy.

Kedah is now taking aim at the Malaysian Cup and the FA Cup.

James and Huggins form half of what Technical Director Stewart John Hall terms as his ‘Big Four’, of the St. Vincent and the Grenadines’ team going into the World Cup Qualifiers against Canada in June.(RT)