… Best, McCurdy also strike doubles
THANKS to a double strike from Derwin Fitter, Tucville Secondary School were able to get past a resilient Central High School at the Tucville ground yesterday afternoon, as action in the second annual Digicel-sponsored nationwide Inter-secondary school football tournament continued across Guyana. Also recording double strikes were Collis Best and Leon McCurdy for Charlestown Secondary and St George’s Secondary respectively, even though Best’s effort was in vain as his side went under to St Stanislaus 4-3 on penalty kicks.
At Tucville, stout defending from the Smyth Street-based Central High, kept the home team at bay for close to 15 minutes in the first half, even though Kevin Andrews had several attempts to put his team in the lead, but was found guilty of excessive dribbling, even when he was in a clear position to shoot.
Added to that, Central High custodian Reshawn Charles, who had an excellent day in between the uprights, as he thwarted Tucville Secondary on several occasions, while at the other end of the field, Tucville’s Shamar Wilson and Jamal Defence, denied Wayne Murray and Daniel Jabbar of Central High from creating any problems for Dennis Johnson, their custodian.
Two minutes after hitting the right upright, Andrews made amends when he beat Charles with a well-placed shot to his right, before Fitter scored the first of his two goals, on the stroke of halftime, after he received a gem of a pass from Andrews, turned and sent his shot to goal, finding the back of the net.
With a 2-0 lead at lemon-time and realising Charles was having difficulty handling the ball due to a lack of goalkeeping gloves, Tucville made several attempts to increase their lead, but Charles was equal to the task, even though his defensive lineup was not.
Fittingly, Fitter who played team ball in contrast to Andrews got his second goal, beating Charles on the first post with a weak shot, which made its way through the hands of the custodian, much to the disgust of his teammates on and off the field.
And while no one sought to give him any credit, he showed he did not need any when he pulled off several saves within the next 10 minutes of play, before Andrews sent another gem of a pass to an unmarked Vermont Munroe, whose first time volley nestled its way comfortably at the back of the net in the 41st minute.
Prior to such, Murray displayed the class of a fighter, when he took on four players from Tucville, worming his way through them, before he was brought down at the top of the box.
Opting to take the free kick that was awarded to his team by referee Dion Inniss, Murray looked on haplessly as his shot sailed high over the bar, creating little or no worries for Johnson, who charged off his line to deny Murray in the dying stages of the game, when faced with a two-on-one situation.
Substitute Renee George, handled another one of Matthews’ cross in the penalty area in the 52nd minute and after issuing the yellow card, Inniss pointed to the penalty spot, where Stefan Enoe stepped up and sent his shot past the slippery fingers of Charles, sealing off his team’s win.
At the Carifesta Sports Complex ground, St Stanislaus and Charlestown Secondary played to a 2-2 draw, with Donovan Mickle and Kwesi Thom finding the back of the net in the 22nd and 28th minutes for St Stanislaus, while Best responded with his brace for Charlestown, who lost the contest 4-3 on penalty kicks.
At the Georgetown Football Club ground, St George’s Secondary defeated Houston Secondary 5-2, with Leon McCurdy (62nd, 85th), Ozeal Small (2nd), Robbie McCalaggon (35th) and Azumah Small (65th) being the goalscorers for St George’s, while Andel Flue (22nd) and Shaquille Grant (80th) were the goalscorers for Houston.
In other matches, Ash Education edged Bush Lot Secondary 4-3 and Tagore Memorial Secondary blanked Guysuco 2-0.