THE juices of City side Fruta Conquerors proved too sweet for Victoria Kings to sip,  while Linden’s Net  Rockers were hard nuts to crack for the ‘Bread-boys’ Bakewell Buxton Stars, as the East Coast teams exited the 21st edition of the Kashif and Shanghai football extravaganza when play continued at the Enmore Community Centre ground last Friday night. In front of a vociferous home crowd the first game ended in the first half after goals by the visiting mining town lads to dispose of the Buxton Stars. On target were strikers Keon Bristol and Matthew ‘Assassin’ Pollard to propel the Rockers to the next stage of the Tournament.

In the second game of the double-header Conquerors and Victoria Kings played to a 3-all stalemate before it was decided by a Penalty shoot-out and the City side prevailed 4-3.

The first goal for the night was engineered by captain of Net Rockers Ray Fraser who sent the ball inside the area for an alert Bristol to capitalise on with a header towards the Buxton goal before scoring with a left-footed shot to send his team into the lead in the 28th minute.
Seven minutes later his striking partner, the United States based Matthew ‘Assassin’ Pollard made the best of an approaching goal keeper of his line and calmly flicked the ball over his head to register goal number two for the Linden side.
The 2-0 advantage remained to the end of the first half and in the second period neither side was able to find the back of the nets. Rockers with the telling first half goals  triumphed over the Buxton side which should have made the best of the conditions as they came with the wind in the first half as against going against the breeze in the 2nd half when down by a 0-2 margin.

T&T- based Verlon Mills exploded in the opening minutes of the 2nd encounter with strikes in the 5th and 16th minutes to give Conquerors the early lead which lasted until 7minutes in the second half.
With an expectant and partisan East Coast crowd on hand Aubrey Gibson was able to send Odel Morrison away for the striker to finish clinically and reduce the lead.
Still Conquerors were able to maintain their composure and should have increased the lead when, under pressure, the Kings goal keeper came out of his area and was beaten to a long ball which was volleyed over the cross bar in the 64th minute to the dismay of the Georgetown fans who had turned up.
In an inspired substitution in the 65th minute the Kings brought on Orin Elias who was able to first knot the scores in the 70th minute and then two minutes later gave them the lead for the first time in the game.
However this lead by the Kings was short-lived, much to the disappointment of the majority when Dwayne Lawrence notched in the equalizer for Conquerors in the 78th minute.
The game eventually petered out into a 3-3 draw and even extra period of play was unable to break the deadlock. It was then penalty kicks and the mandatory five was ordered with Mills, Gerard Gittens, Eon Alleyne and Trevon Lythcott all scoring before the first three were also netted by the Kings but the fourth and fifth kicks went outside as Conquerors advanced at their opponents  expense.