The knockout stage of the Barbados Football Association (BFA) Champions Cup delivered dramatic twists and dominant performances on Sunday, as three more Round of 16 ties wrapped up at the Wildey Technical Centre. One title favorite secured a spot in the next round with a statement win, while another longtime contender exited the competition earlier than most projections predicted.
Leading the day’s action was defending Premier League and BFA Champions Cup title holder Weymouth Wales, who snapped a season-long goal drought to hand second-placed Division One side Parish Land a resounding 5-0 defeat. The lopsided result came in the final match of a triple-header, and it served as a much-needed confidence boost for a side that has struggled to find the back of the net through the current domestic campaign.
Wales got on the board in the 20th minute, after Parish Land squandered an early promising opportunity that saw the underdogs start the match brightly. Forward Hayden Holligan slotted home the opening goal to put the defending champions ahead. The second goal came via a stroke of bad luck for Parish Land in the 36th minute: a defender’s attempted clearance ricocheted off Wales midfielder Jaheim Neblett and trickled into the empty net, doubling Wales’ lead heading into halftime.
Substitute Armando Lashley extended the advantage to 3-0 in the 59th minute, carrying over the strong run of form he has built in recent weeks. With Parish Land reeling and unable to mount a consistent counterattack, Weymouth Wales added two late goals to cap off the rout: Rommel Bynoe found the net in the 62nd minute, and Rashad Jules closed out the scoring in the 80th minute.
Following the win, Weymouth Wales head coach Asquith Howell framed the result as a critical milestone ahead of upcoming regional and domestic competitions. The side qualified for the 2024 Caribbean Football Union (CFU) Club Shield by retaining their domestic Premier League title, and this year’s regional competition will follow a single-elimination knockout format, with Weymouth Wales entering at the Round of 16 stage.
“One of the key focuses of our training lately has been expanding our attacking options ahead of the CFU competition,” Howell explained. “We’ve faced a lot of challenges with scoring goals this year, so tonight’s performance is a great starting point. We still have a long way to go, but this is solid progress. Since we know the CFU Club Shield will be knockout football, we definitely need to start finding the back of the net more consistently, and this win checked that box.”
In the day’s second upset, traditional title contender Ellerton was ousted from the competition by UWI Blackbirds following a back-and-forth, tightly contested match. Teon Cadogan put UWI ahead early, netting in the 16th minute to put the Cave Hill-based side on the front foot. After 25 minutes of continuous end-to-end action, Ellerton capitalized on a UWI defensive mistake to equalize in the 40th minute through Marco St Hill, sending the two sides into halftime level at one apiece.
Rovaldo Massiah restored UWI’s lead 12 minutes after the break, curling a well-placed strike past the Ellerton goalkeeper to make the score 2-1 in the 52nd minute. Despite sustained late pressure from Ellerton pushing for an equalizer, UWI held firm to defend their lead and secure a spot in the quarter-finals.
Speaking after the win, UWI assistant coach Ricardo Goddard praised his side’s discipline in sticking to their pre-match game plan. “I think we played well in stretches, and we mostly stuck to what we drew up before the game, and when you execute your game plan, you usually get the result you want,” Goddard said. He noted that scoring first in a knockout competition is a massive advantage: “Our focus going in was to avoid giving up the first goal, because once you’re chasing the game in knockout football, the opposing side often drops back to defend their lead, and if you don’t have the creativity to break them down, you end up scrambling and making mistakes. Getting on the board first made all the difference today.”
In the opening match of Sunday’s triple-header, Eyre’s Meatshop Pride of Gall Hill booked their quarter-final spot with a 2-0 victory over Notre Dame. Shakarie Mottley put Gall Hill ahead in the 19th minute, and an 88th-minute own goal from a Notre Dame defender sealed the win to send the side through.