TONIGHT is semifinals night in this second edition of the Upper Demerara Football Association/GT Beer Supa 16 Christmas knockout championship where the line-ups read: At 19:00hrs defending champions Winners Connection face Eagles United and at 21:00hrs Bakewell Topp XX meet Hi Stars at the Mackenzie Sports Club ground.

The stage is set for two ripping final four match-ups since on Boxing Night the semifinalists were decided with Winners Connection taking the field for the first time after given the bye, surviving where others with that good fortune failed. They registered a 3-1 win over Botofago in one game and the other brought victory for Eagles United over Silver Shattas by a 1-0 score-line.
Interestingly, only Winners Connection were able to go past their opponents at this stage as they came from a goal down after Botofago had secured the lead in the 49th the minute off the boot of Mark Hope to rebound through striker Rawle Gittens with goals in the 80th and 85th minutes of play and the third from Derrol Dainty one minute before regulation time ended.
In the second game of the night Romain Adams was there to boot home the winner in the 41st minute as Eagles shattered the hopes of Silver Shattas who also were playing their first game in this tournament but never got going.
They joined wild card entrants Bakewell Topp XX like the other qualifiers who had to get past two rounds of play, to beat Net Rockers who took the field for the first time on Christmas Day. Topp XX won 1-0 while another casualty happened to be last year’s runners-up Milerock who stumbled in their first game playing their quarterfinal match against Hi Stars who also had to win two times before reaching that stage.
In this evening’s encounters therefore the defending champions hope to reach their second final in as many matches when they face Topp XX, the Upper Demerara’s most celebrated team, in what should be a scorcher as the ‘bread boys’ play another semifinal at this Christmas championship for the first time in over two decades without their former national forward Collie Hercules.
Hercules‘ teenage nephew Clive is among the emerging players for this Topp XX unit but Hi Stars with the lanky striker Tony ‘Spirit’ Adams in fine form will seek to reach their first final at this level.
In the other game, Winners Connection will see the veteran Rawle ‘Boney’ Gittens, who got the brace in their quarterfinal game against Botofago, and Derrol Dainty as their spearhead, while Eagles United’s young Romain Adams who got the lone goal against Silver Shattas will team up with Dellon Charter to bring the Christianburg side victory.

(By Joe Chapman)