… Waterton’s brace does trick for Amelia’s Ward
TWO-time champions Milerock advanced to the semi-finals of the 22nd edition of the Kashif and Shanghai Football extravaganza, following their 2-0 win over the Caribbean United at the Mackenzie Sports Club ground, Monday night. Also advancing to the final four were Amelia’s Ward United who, thanks to Travis Waterton’s double, disposed of Bakewell Buxton Stars 3-0, to book their place in the penultimate round of the tournament.
Randolph ‘Blackhead’ Jerome and Charles ‘Lily’ Pollard accounted for Milerock’s goals in their highly anticipated clash with the Barbados-based Caribbean United lineup, doing so with individual headers.
In the opening encounter, Amelia’s Ward gained their first goal in the 12th minute when Ezra ‘Odinga’ Green accepted a cross from Shawn Daniels and with good placement sent his side into the lead.
Waterton scored the first of his two goals, when he blasted the ball past a dazed and scattered Bakewell Buxton Stars defence in the 32nd minute, after his team confused their opponents with beautiful ball possession and interchanges.
Amelia’s Ward sealed their win in the 64th minute, when Waterton displayed that he has the individual skills to play at this level, weaving his way through to complete his double in emphatic fashion.
On the other hand, Milerock were up against a brisk-looking Caribbean United side which had taken care of Linden’s Winner Connection in their previous game, but the presence of Jerome and Pollard along with Kendal Jagdeosingh and Carey Harris proved vital to their success.
The combination of Jerome and Pollard saw Milerock find the back of the net first in the 36th minute, with the former scoring off a header following a gem of a cross from the latter.
Twenty (20) minutes later and Jerome repaid the generosity shown by Pollard, when he sent his cross to the man who, along with Collie ‘Hitman’ Hercules, is known as the elder statesman of local football, and was not surprised when Pollard emulated him by scoring with a wonderful header.
Amelia’s Ward United will face the winner of the Pele/ Mill Ballers clash which is scheduled for this evening at the Beterverwagting ground at 1830hrs while Milerock will oppose the winner of the Victoria Kings versus Caledonia AIA encounter which is set to kick off at 20:00hrs.
The semi-final is billed for the Guyana National Stadium, Providence, on Friday while the finals will be contested at the same venue on Sunday, where the winner is guaranteed one pound of gold worth $4M.