HAVING played through the preliminary round of the inaugural Petra Organisation/Guyana Beverage Inc. Busta soft shoe football championships unbeaten, Ballerz were last Friday night handed their marching orders out of the tournament, at the hands of a game and determined Queen Street-Tiger Bay.On the first night of the round of 16 stage of the competition at the Georgetown Football Club ground, where teams must win or face the axe, Ballerz who topped Group C with a perfect 3-0 record, went under to their opponents who placed second to West Front Road ‘Gold is Money’ in Group A, 7-2.
Devon Harris opened the scoring for the eventual victors in the 5th minute before diminutive striker Deon Alfred scored the first of his two goals in the 7th minute, following which Sceyon Hope kept Ballerz’ hope alive with his 11th minute strike, making it a one goal possession for Queen Street.
But unlike other teams in the preliminary round of the tournament, who would have scored first against Ballerz then become complacent and allow the Mocha based side, which is made up of players from Rhythm Squad, to reclaim the game, a spirited Queen Street lineup refused to give in.
Godfrey Powers (14th), James Meredith (18th and 19th), Keyoma Gravesande (28th) and Alfred’s second goal which was scored in the final minute of play, ensured Queen Street-Tiger Bay book their place in this Tuesday’s quarterfinal, despite Dorville Stewart pulling one back for Ballerz in the 27th minute.
The night’s action began with Cross Street-Werk-en-Rust showing Alexander Village the exit area of the tournament, following their 3-1 win, as Samuel Hunte (5th), Ronaldo Dover (9th) and Dellon David (11th) being the players responsible for Cross Street’s goals.
Golden Jaguars’ Jermin Junor responded from the penalty spot in the 27th minute for Alexander Village, who were frustrated by their opponent’s custodian Ronnell Roberts, who on several occasions thwarted their efforts to score, doing so twice from back to back point blanks shots from Shem Porter who had a miserable night in the field for Alexander Village, but refused to substitute himself.
The phrase ‘Constant banging would break down walls’, can be applicable to North East La Penitence’s custodian, who on several occasions, denied West Front Road ‘Gold is Money’, until the 25th minute when Michael Oie breached his defence and three minutes later when Randolph Wagner scored to hand West Front Road the win by a 2-0 margin.
The final game of the night saw some spirited efforts from both Festival City and Albouystown, both of whom saw their custodian affecting save after save to keep their team in the hunt for the top prize of $600,000.
Always favoured to make it to the final eight and if possible final four, Festival City who were competing without the services of Eon Alleyne and Solomon Austin, saw Dwayne Lawrence convert a gem of a pass from Wayne Wilson on the left flank in the 29th minute, to come away with a 1-0 win.
This was after Albouystown’s Denver ‘Jonty’ Dennis did lots of hard work for his side, who on numerous occasions failed to convert their chances, even when they were clear cut and easy as taking candy from a baby, much to the disappointment of their vociferous supporters behind the rails.
Meanwhile, the final round of 16 matches would be played at the same venue tonight, with Kitty Weavers taking on Broad Street, North Ruimveldt meeting Sophia, West Back Road tackling Bent Street and Sparta Boss putting their unbeaten record on the line against Globe Yard.
Apart from the first-place prize mentioned above, the second- to fourth-placed finishers will respectively pocket $300 000, $200 000 and $100 000, with the highest goal scorer being the recipient of a gold chain, compliments of Junior’s Jewellery and Pawn Shop.
By Calvin Roberts