OLD Fort tightened their grip on the Bounty Paper Towels men’s second division league on Saturday with a convincing 7-3 victory over Saints U-19s.

The Sequel, meanwhile, maintained their second position in the pool standings with a similarly dominant win over Senior Saints by 7-2.

Saints U-19 seemed destined to upset the equilibrium of the tournament when the speedy Troy Hodge managed to break the nil-all deadlock in their match against pool leaders, Old Fort in the 7th minute.

A defensive scramble by Old Fort resulted in a penalty stroke for Saints U-19s which Hodge easily converted. National striker Jael Gaskin evened the score for Old Fort seven minutes later and the teams scored a goal each, through Gaskin for Old Fort and Shakeem Fausette for Saints, just before the half to make the half-time score 2-2.

Saints U-19 then took the lead for the third time with a Hilmar Chester strike, but by then the confident Old Fort had received their full complement of players and took control of the game from thereon.

Jason Clarke drew the scores level in the 32nd minute of the 40-minute match through a penalty corner, then Gaskin scored twice more to take his total to 4. Rafal Robertson and Warren Williams buried the Saints U-19s further with a goal each to give Old Fort the 7-3 win.

The Sequel never seemed troubled by the opposition of Saints Seniors and were off to a flying start through two early goals from Medroy Scotland who was the outstanding finisher of the day. Veteran defender Robert Fernandes entered the game for Saints and brought a considerable measure of stability to the team and sparked their first goal through Kevin Edwards.

A long pass from Fernandes evaded the GCC deep defence and found Edwards who gave Saints their opening goal in the 14th minute.

Guyana Hockey Board (GHB) president Philip Fernandes resumed the momentum for GCC, however, with a solo effort and solid finish which was followed by a hat-trick of goals from former national, Devin Hooper, before Fernandes added a final goal, high in the Saints net, to give GCC their seventh goal of the match.

Yonnick Peters of Saints managed a penalty corner late in the second half but it proved far from troubling for the Sequel who finished with a 7-2 victory.

As the first round of matches near completion, Old Fort found themselves unbeaten and in top position of the pool with 12 points, with the Sequel in second place with nine points. Saints U-19s have six points with Bounty GCC on three. Hikers Cadets and Saints Seniors are yet to secure a point.

In the ladies’ competition, Pizza Hut GCC find themselves in the familiar top spot with 4 points, with Bingo Spartans on 3 points. The other three teams, Old Fort, Saints and Woodpecker Hikers, have a point each.

Matches continue every weekend at the Saints ground until May 20.