THANKS to an Anthony Abrams hat-trick, Laing Avenue were able to hand defending champions, Leopold Street, a 4-2 defeat, when action in the sixth annual Banks DIH Guinness ‘Greatest of the Streets’ Futsal football competition kicked off at the Demerara Car Park last Tuesday night.

On the same night, four players namely Omallo Williams, Akeem Jackson, Jamal Brenons, and diminutive striker Devon Millington had double strike for their respective teams, even as Jermain McLoud scored the fastest goal of the tournament, with his 13 seconds strike.
Fittingly, Leopold Street, who defeated former champions Back Circle in last year’s final, raised the curtains for this year’s tournament after some brief remarks from Minister of Sport Dr. Frank Anthony and other executives of Banks DIH Limited.
Abrams sent Laing Avenue into the lead with his first goal that was scored in the third minute of play, doubling that lead with another two minutes later before Williams drew the defending champions level, scoring his brace two minutes apart, with the first being scored exactly two minutes after Abrams got his second goal.
With the scoreline reading 2-2, many felt that Leopold Street, who had an unsuccessful run in the second annual Caribbean ‘Guinness Greatest of the Streets’ competition last year in comparison to Back Circle’s sojourn the previous year, were on the verge of making a successful start to their title defence.
However, Laing Avenue had other ideas in mind and they rose to the forefront when Abrams completed the lone hattrick of the night and first for this year’s tournament, when he found the back of the net in the 13th minute followed by Fabian Crawford’s strike one minute later which sealed the win for the eventual victors.
Jackson scored his brace in the 4th and 24th minutes respectively for South Sophia, which along with Ryan O’Selmo’s solitary strike in the 5th minute, handed Norton Street-East a 3-0 defeat, a contest which was followed by Berlin Massive’s 4-0 drubbing over Stevedore Housing Scheme.
Brenons scored his double in the 17th and 20th minutes of play for Berlin Massive, after Travis Heyliger opened their scoring in the sixth minute, followed by Devon Charles’ 8th minute strike which handed them a 2-0 lead.
Kevin Griffith (13th), Jamal Cozier (27th) and Calvin Pitt (28th) were the men on target for Broad Street ‘B’, who came away with a 3-1 victory over Castello Housing Scheme, for whom Mark Welch scored their lone goal in the 25th minute.
After the usual Guinness Break that is seen at these tournaments that are held countrywide, Norton Street defeated North East La Penitence 2-1, with McLoud 13 seconds strike being complimented by Laurex Fraser’s 20th minute goal for Norton Street, while Colin Daniels pulled one back for the losers in the 14th minute.
Millington showed his class and superiority with his 1st and 7th minutes goals that were backed by Sheldon Holder’s 15th minute strike, which in the end enabled East LaPenitence to defeat Bent Street 2-0, even as a Ronsford Coleridge’s 18 minute penalty was the lone goal in the contest between Hope Street –Tiger Bay and South Ruimveldt, which the former won.
The final matchup of the night brought together Globe Yard and Riverview, which ended 1-1 with Kevin Lewis (3rd) scoring for the former and Travis Martin (16th) doing the same for the latter and while regulation penalty kicks saw the scores being locked at 4, Globe Yard came out victors with a 5-4 Sudden Death penalty shootout from the half way mark.
Action in this year’s tournament which includes 32 teams from across the City, who are playing for $500,000, with the second, third and fourth placed teams taking home $300,000, $200,000 and $100,000 respectively, along with trophies, will continue at the National Cultural Centre tarmac from 18:30hrs.
Along with the above mentioned prizes, teams can pocket an additional $25,000, $20,000, $15,000 and $10,000 each, according to their placing at the end of the preliminary round, while the tournament culminates on December 21st at the National Park.
Written By Calvin Roberts