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SKIPPER Anthony ‘Awo’ Abrams found the back of the net four times – thrice in the first half – to power national club champions Alpha ‘The Hammer’ United past a hapless-looking Georgetown Football Club (GFC) at their home ground last Tuesday night, to book a place in Sunday’s semifinal of this year’s Mayor’s Cup football tournament. Also recording a quarter-final victory were new kids on the block, Slingerz Football Club, who proved to be too strong for an out-of-sorts Sunburst Camptown lineup.
Abrams found the back of the net in the 3rd, 32nd, 39th and 72nd minutes respectively, and was backed by Manasseh Primo’s brace scored in the space of one minute – 83rd and 84th. Dwight Peters struck in the 17th minute and an own goal, which handed Alpha the win 8-0.
In the second contest of the evening, Dwayne Jacobs showed he can be an inspirational leader with any local team, guiding Slingerz to a hard-fought 4-0 rout over Sunburst Camptown, as he found the back of the net in the 44th and 63rd minutes respectively.
In the Alpha-GFC encounter, the home team who recorded upset victories over BK Western Tigers and BV/Triumph United in their two previous matches to earn the tag ‘Giant Killers’, found a strong and worthy beanstalk in the national champions.
The eventual winners signalled their intentions early, when Gregory ‘Jackie Chan’ Richardson sent a wonderful through ball from midway inside GFC’s half to Abrams, who outsprinted his marker and rounded the ball past his opponents’ custodian Dexter Rutherford to open his and the team’s goal-scoring account in the third minute.
Fourteen minutes later and Peters, who is known for his speed dribbles on the left wing, did not disappoint the crowd when he went around Eon Singh with the greatest of ease and beat Rutherford with a well-placed shot on the near post.
Abrams added two more goals to the team’s tally within the space of seven minutes, as Alpha, who watched the home team string together several passes within the midfield area, took the lemon time whistle with a comfortable 4-0 lead.
On the resumption of play in the contest which was becoming a frustrating one for GFC, who during the 90 minutes plus the extra four added on for delay, failed to trouble Alpha’s custodian Richie Richards. Alpha displayed the level of football that earned them their nickname.
Peters, Richardson and Abrams were working in tandem at the top while at the back, Kelvin McKenzie, Philbert Moffat and company ensured Richards had an easy night between the uprights, shutting down all of GFC’s advances at midfield.
In fact, the intensity that was displayed by Alpha in the second half, saw GFC’s Gregory Denny score an own goal from a goal mouth scrimmage in the 67th minute, before Abrams got his fourth and final goal of the contest five minutes later.
Enter Primo into the fray for Andrew Murray in the 70th minute and he too cashed in on the free-for-all scenario that presented itself by GFC, scoring a brace in the 83rd and 84th minutes, following which GFC Singh and Dellon Cadogan of GFC found the time to disagree amongst themselves, while Alpha were on the attack.
The duo exchanged several expletives without the earshot of the referee, before Cadogan was substituted by the team’s coach Peter Lashley.
The feature match of the night was an intense one between Slingerz, who are bent on proving to the country they are capable enough of toppling Alpha as the top team and a rejuvenated Sunburst Camptown lineup.
Slingerz had the opportunity to score the first goal of the contest and another within the second minute, only to see Anthony Sancho first and Pierre Joseph shoot wide, even as Sunburst Camptown struggled to get their act together.
Playing to the beat of African drums in the background, Slingerz gathered their nerves after that miss, while their opponents, for whom Telson McKinnon was doing some overtime work on the left flank, regained their composure and offered the hundreds who thronged the venue an exciting contest.
Misses after misses were the order of the day at both ends of the field, before Slingerz coach and former central midfielder Gordon ‘Ultimate Warrior’ Brathwaite, made a switch by bringing Jacobs to the left and sending Joseph to the right.
It was a ploy that paid dividends, as Jacobs got a wonderful pass from Sancho, which he latched onto and let loose a rocket of a shot one minute before lemon time, to hand his team the lead.
After the break, another see-saw battle ensued as Sunburst Camptown went in search of the equaliser, while Slingerz looked to increase their lead. The latter, however, who went ahead when Jacobs got his second goal in the 63rd minute of play.
It was a goal that knocked the wind out of the Campbellville-based team, who lost the services of Lennox Charles in the 68th minute, after he received his second caution, while Brathwaite introduced a young and energetic Deon Alfred for Tichard Joseph.
That was another valuable move from the dreadlocked coach, as Alfred ensured the hard work that was being put in by Jacobs who marshalled his troops well, did not go to waste, beating Sunburst Camptown’s custodian with a well-placed left-foot shot from the right side of the box in the 78th minute.
That goal sparked off celebrations on and off the field of play, for while Alfred rushed to Brathwaite on the sidelines to offer his profound gratitude, his teammates flocked him in delight.
Quason McAulay sealed Sunburst Camptown’s exit with his 89th minute strike, scoring a wonderful header off a Jacobs cross, a goal that created confusion on the field among his team’s opponents.
The end result was the sounding of the final whistle, after Sunburst Camptown’s Keson Dey got into an argument with one of the team’s supporters and while he was being cautioned by the first assistant, hurled expletives and threatening remarks to the linesman, who brought it to the referee’s attention.
While both Alpha and Slingerz have advanced to Sunday’s semifinal, the other two semifinalists will be decided tonight at the same venue, when Santos and Den Amstel face each other in the first game at 1830hrs followed by the Fruta Conquerors versus Guyana Defence Force clash at 2030hrs.
At stake in the competition, which will culminate on Sunday, April 7 at the same venue, is a magnificent G$1M to the winners, with the second-, third- and fourth-placed finishers receiving $500 000, $300 000 and $200 000 respectively.
Abrams found the back of the net in the 3rd, 32nd, 39th and 72nd minutes respectively, and was backed by Manasseh Primo’s brace scored in the space of one minute – 83rd and 84th. Dwight Peters struck in the 17th minute and an own goal, which handed Alpha the win 8-0.
In the second contest of the evening, Dwayne Jacobs showed he can be an inspirational leader with any local team, guiding Slingerz to a hard-fought 4-0 rout over Sunburst Camptown, as he found the back of the net in the 44th and 63rd minutes respectively.
In the Alpha-GFC encounter, the home team who recorded upset victories over BK Western Tigers and BV/Triumph United in their two previous matches to earn the tag ‘Giant Killers’, found a strong and worthy beanstalk in the national champions.
The eventual winners signalled their intentions early, when Gregory ‘Jackie Chan’ Richardson sent a wonderful through ball from midway inside GFC’s half to Abrams, who outsprinted his marker and rounded the ball past his opponents’ custodian Dexter Rutherford to open his and the team’s goal-scoring account in the third minute.
Fourteen minutes later and Peters, who is known for his speed dribbles on the left wing, did not disappoint the crowd when he went around Eon Singh with the greatest of ease and beat Rutherford with a well-placed shot on the near post.
Abrams added two more goals to the team’s tally within the space of seven minutes, as Alpha, who watched the home team string together several passes within the midfield area, took the lemon time whistle with a comfortable 4-0 lead.
On the resumption of play in the contest which was becoming a frustrating one for GFC, who during the 90 minutes plus the extra four added on for delay, failed to trouble Alpha’s custodian Richie Richards. Alpha displayed the level of football that earned them their nickname.
Peters, Richardson and Abrams were working in tandem at the top while at the back, Kelvin McKenzie, Philbert Moffat and company ensured Richards had an easy night between the uprights, shutting down all of GFC’s advances at midfield.
In fact, the intensity that was displayed by Alpha in the second half, saw GFC’s Gregory Denny score an own goal from a goal mouth scrimmage in the 67th minute, before Abrams got his fourth and final goal of the contest five minutes later.
Enter Primo into the fray for Andrew Murray in the 70th minute and he too cashed in on the free-for-all scenario that presented itself by GFC, scoring a brace in the 83rd and 84th minutes, following which GFC Singh and Dellon Cadogan of GFC found the time to disagree amongst themselves, while Alpha were on the attack.
The duo exchanged several expletives without the earshot of the referee, before Cadogan was substituted by the team’s coach Peter Lashley.
The feature match of the night was an intense one between Slingerz, who are bent on proving to the country they are capable enough of toppling Alpha as the top team and a rejuvenated Sunburst Camptown lineup.
Slingerz had the opportunity to score the first goal of the contest and another within the second minute, only to see Anthony Sancho first and Pierre Joseph shoot wide, even as Sunburst Camptown struggled to get their act together.
Playing to the beat of African drums in the background, Slingerz gathered their nerves after that miss, while their opponents, for whom Telson McKinnon was doing some overtime work on the left flank, regained their composure and offered the hundreds who thronged the venue an exciting contest.
Misses after misses were the order of the day at both ends of the field, before Slingerz coach and former central midfielder Gordon ‘Ultimate Warrior’ Brathwaite, made a switch by bringing Jacobs to the left and sending Joseph to the right.
It was a ploy that paid dividends, as Jacobs got a wonderful pass from Sancho, which he latched onto and let loose a rocket of a shot one minute before lemon time, to hand his team the lead.
After the break, another see-saw battle ensued as Sunburst Camptown went in search of the equaliser, while Slingerz looked to increase their lead. The latter, however, who went ahead when Jacobs got his second goal in the 63rd minute of play.
It was a goal that knocked the wind out of the Campbellville-based team, who lost the services of Lennox Charles in the 68th minute, after he received his second caution, while Brathwaite introduced a young and energetic Deon Alfred for Tichard Joseph.
That was another valuable move from the dreadlocked coach, as Alfred ensured the hard work that was being put in by Jacobs who marshalled his troops well, did not go to waste, beating Sunburst Camptown’s custodian with a well-placed left-foot shot from the right side of the box in the 78th minute.
That goal sparked off celebrations on and off the field of play, for while Alfred rushed to Brathwaite on the sidelines to offer his profound gratitude, his teammates flocked him in delight.
Quason McAulay sealed Sunburst Camptown’s exit with his 89th minute strike, scoring a wonderful header off a Jacobs cross, a goal that created confusion on the field among his team’s opponents.
The end result was the sounding of the final whistle, after Sunburst Camptown’s Keson Dey got into an argument with one of the team’s supporters and while he was being cautioned by the first assistant, hurled expletives and threatening remarks to the linesman, who brought it to the referee’s attention.
While both Alpha and Slingerz have advanced to Sunday’s semifinal, the other two semifinalists will be decided tonight at the same venue, when Santos and Den Amstel face each other in the first game at 1830hrs followed by the Fruta Conquerors versus Guyana Defence Force clash at 2030hrs.
At stake in the competition, which will culminate on Sunday, April 7 at the same venue, is a magnificent G$1M to the winners, with the second-, third- and fourth-placed finishers receiving $500 000, $300 000 and $200 000 respectively.
