,,, Alexander Village, Albouystown ‘A’ and WFR also advance
JIMMY Gravesande hit a brace in the space of two minutes that guided his team Broad Street ‘B’ into the final four of the second annual Banks DIH Guinness ‘Greatest of De Streets’ football tournament, when they defeated the much fancied Sophia 2-1 Sunday night at the National Park tarmac. Alexander Village, West Front Road (WFR) and Albouystown ‘A’ for whom Devon Small has scored nine goals so far to be in line for the top goalscorer award, also booked their place in the final four which will be played tonight at the same venue.
Approximately 5 000 football enthusiasts braved a brief shower to witness the night’s four quarterfinal matches that had the words exciting and enthralling written all over them, backed by the exhibition matchup between the RX team from Jamaica and Guyana’s Guinness Bar.
Albouystown ‘A’ got things started with their encounter against Norton Street (Werk-en-Rust) who saw Quincy Ashby given marching orders by referee Wayne Griffith when he committed a dangerous play on Small in the first minute of the game.
Small responded by rocking the back of the net in the third minute, a goal that was sufficient to take his team into the semifinals and at the same time, carry his personal tally to nine, with his teammate Devon Dooker and Alexander Village’s Leon Yaw close behind on 7 and 6 respectively.
In the second match of the evening which got under way when the showers abated, West Front Road gathered their footing to stun Stevedore Housing Scheme (SHS) 3-0, despite the throng of supporters for the North Ruimveldt-based team.
An even exchange occurred during the first 10 minutes of play, as players on both sides struggled to come to grips with the slippery conditions and when they did, it was WFR who broke the deadlock, thanks to Nal Nagaloo’s 13th minute strike after receiving a pass from Ola Pedro.
One minute later, Nagaloo returned the favour when he sent a wonderful pass to Pedro whose shot went through a crowd of SHS players before nestling at the back of the net   – a goal that knocked the wind out of SHS’ sails as they struggled to regroup.
A see-saw battle was the order of the night in the second half, with SHS looking to pull back a goal while WFR sought to increase their lead, with their defence being stationed at the centre of the playing area on most occasions which highlighted their dominance over their opponents.
While Elroy Parks fought gallantly to find the back of the net for SHS, the WFR team who used Ola Pedro for the entire 30-minute encounter maintained their attacking mode against their opponents resulting in Wendell Pedro scoring their third and final goal in the 17th minute, to send SHS crashing out of the tournament.
Broad Street ‘B’ continued their impressive showing in the tournament which has a whopping $500 000 for the winners, when they stopped the much fancied Sophia 2-1, thanks to Gravesande’s brace which was scored in the 11th and 13th minutes of the game, while Sheik Kamal pulled one back from the penalty spot for Sophia in the 25th minute.
Following the exhibition matchup which the Jamaicans won 3-2 over their Guyanese counterparts, Laing Avenue and Alexander Village entertained the fans in the final matchup of the evening.
After a goalless first half in which both teams tried to forge ahead, Alexander Village skipper Shem Porter worked his way around two opposing players to present a two-on-one situation in the goal area, where he passed to Yaw who made no mistake in the 19th minute.
The pair emulated the feat of Ola Pedro and Nagaloo for WFR earlier in the night, when Yaw out-dribbled the defence and sent a gem of a pass to Porter one minute later who scored to not only secure his team’s place in the semifinals, but also silence Laing Avenue’s supporters who were very vociferous.
Dwayne Daniels sealed the spot with a last-minute goal that made the Laing Avenue players both on the playing area and the substitute’s bench, curse and quarrel amongst themselves, while their opponents had bright smiles on their faces.
In tonight’s semifinals which kicks off at 21:00 h, Alexander Village  take on Broad Street ‘B’ while Albouystown ‘A’ will look to continue their impressive run when they oppose WFR. The final is set for the same venue on Sunday.