..-Santos and FC to replay fixture
NATIONL club champions Alpha ‘The Hammer’ United demonstrated their dominance on local football when they came from behind to defeat Sunburst Camptown 3-1 in their semifinal match of the Fruta Conquerors (FC) organised NAMILCO sponsored football extravaganza at the Tucville playfield last Saturday night. A power outage in the first half of the second semi final between the host club and Santos Football Club forced an abandonment of that fixture which will be replayed on Wednesday night at the same venue, with patrons being admitted free of cost.
Fans gathered at the venue were treated to an enthralling encounter between Camptown and Alpha, with the former being the first to find the back of the net in the third minute of the match, when Trishaw Sandiford scored from the penalty spot following an infringement on Nigel ‘Powers’ Codrington.
The goal brought ‘The Hammer’ boys to life, as they began hammering away at the opposition in search of the equalizer, with Dwight Peters, Dwain Jacobs, Shawn Bishop and at times Issa Mc Pherson forcing Camptown’s custodian Maurice Prince to work overtime.
However, with two minutes to lemon time, Shevaughn Seaforth managed to beat Prince to level the scores as both teams sought the comforts of the bench after 45 minutes of play.
The second half was no different from the first, with Camptown led by Codrington, Sandiford and Lance Rolston taking the fight to their opponents, forcing Mc Pherson, Howard Lowe, Kelvin Mc Kenzie and custodian Ronson Williams to pull out all the stops in their efforts to  thwart their advances.
Leon Grumble was presented with an open Sunburst Camptown goal midway through the second half, but he opted for power instead of placement and saw his shot going wide of the uprights, with Prince nowhere in the picture.
Coach Wayne Dover thought he saw enough of Grumble and substituted immediately after that blunder, with Andrew Murray Jnr replacing him, a move that paid dividend as Murray received a pass from Mc Pherson and made his way deep into Camptown’s half.
He played the perfect one-two combination with Mc Pherson, who found an unmarked Jacobs on the penalty spot in the 70th minute, who did not hesitate to rock the net with a well placed right foot shot, which was amends for his own blunder 10 minutes earlier.
Being fully aware of their opponents’ ability to defend a lead, Sunburst Camptown went on the offensive, testing Alpha’s defence to the wire, with the hard working Sandiford and Codrington making numerous runs deep into Alpha’s third, but were met by a sturdy Mc Kenzie who had an excellent game at the back for his team.
At the other end of the field, Murray who had a stint with Sutherland Football Club in England through the Digicel Summer Programme, showed what he learnt while in Europe when he found Jacobs amongst a crowd of Camptown players, but the striker’s shot was blocked on the line.
The rebounded shot from Peters was also blocked and when Jacobs tried to get a shot to a clear and open goal off Prince, who was prostrate on the ground, held onto his foot forcing the referee to point to the penalty spot where Shawn Bishop converted the kick in the 84th minute.
Down by two goals, the fight and wind was knocked completely out of Sunburst Camptown who struggled to get the ball to the halfway stage of the field after Alpha’s third goal and at the end of 90 minutes of exciting football, Alpha marched into the finals with a commanding 3-1 victory.
The effects of the defeat took its toll on some of Sunburst Camptown players including Prince, as they fought amongst themselves before the commencement of the second semifinal, forcing the law enforcement officers gathered at the venue to intervene.
The second semifinal got underway with FC”s Pernell Shultz, who was having a splendiferous night in the field for his team, penetrating Santos’ defence at will, but his crosses were either too long for his team’s strikers, or in some instances they failed to control same.
In one of his spirited runs down the right wing, he sent a beauty of a pass to Dexter Lawrence, but the diminutive forward found it difficult to get a touch onto the ball, even with Santos’ custodian O’Neil Heywood being out of position, much to the disbelief of the crowd.
Not to be outdone, Santos had a few attacks of their own led by Glenorvan Edmonds, but 19 year old Colin Edwards who was used as FC’s first choice custodian over Oswald Cornette, continued his impressive display between the uprights to thwart Santos.
Shortly after pulling off an easy save, Edwards sent a long ball to Eon Alleyne who avoided three tackles from Santos defensive lineup comprising of Jermaine Fraser, Lennox Charles and Mark Glasgow, to send a cross to the right of the field, but Shultz sent the shot wide of the uprights, following which the power went.
At stake in this competition which culminates on Sunday with the final and third place playoff, is $500,000 and trophy compliments of National Milling Company (NAMILCO), whose managing director Bert Sukhai is expected to be at the Tucville ground to witness the final night of action.