RIDING on the back of their nail-biting victory over host nation Venezuela in the third round on Wednesday, Guyana, who suffered back-to-back defeats to Argentina and Canada in their first two rounds, defeated Peru 4-2 at the 2010 Indoor Pan American Hockey  Championship which is being played in Barquisimeto, Venezuela, on Thursday. Playing in the first match on the fourth day of the Men’s indoor tournament Guyana scored first around the sixth minute of play, but Peru quickly tied the match off a penalty corner goal.
Peru won another penalty corner shortly after, but was unable to convert and the Guyanese made them pay when they scored their second goal off another penalty corner, making it 2-1.
It was Peru who had more attacking opportunities in the first half, but Guyana continued to control the lead which they stretched to 3-1 off a field goal following a turn-over by Peru in the midfield and at halftime, the score line remained the same in favour of Guyana.
It was the first time Guyana held the lead at the half in their four matches and they began the second half on a level playing field with their opponents, as both teams controlled possession of the ball.
Peru received multiple corners, but could not score from them and Guyana, as they  did in the first half, made them pay for their blunders when Robert Fernandes beat Peru’s custodian Felix Mafferetti with a well placed flick in the 35th minute of the game.
Peru continued to look for attacking opportunities and scored from a penalty corner two minutes after Fernandes’ strike and even though they pulled their custodian late in the game in the hunt for goals, Guyana still managed to come out victorious in the encounter.
Meanwhile, Argentina and Canada played the last match of the day in the same pool (pool B) as the Guyana/Peru matchup, of which Canada came out victorious by a 4-1 margin, to end top of the group.
Guyanese Jonathan Roberts and Sean Barretto pushed Canada into the lead within the first 10 minutes of the first ten minutes of the match.
Argentina looked to generate an attack, but saw all their shots blocked by the Canadian defence and goalkeeper, while they failed to convert a penalty corner midway through the first half.
Canada continued to assert their dominance and after a series of penalty corners, Adam Ali scored their third goal of the match. They took the halftime whistle with a comfortable 3-0 lead.
They struck early in the second half to go up 4-0 against a hapless-looking Argentina side, who managed to score a goal of their own in the final minute of the match, thanks to Adriano Busatto, as Canada topped the group with their 4-1 victory.