Barbados’ YMCA surprise defending champions, Hikers
BARBADOS’ Young Men Christian Association (YMCA) surprised defending champions Hikers of Guyana by holding them to a 6-6 draw on the second night of the Diamond Mineral Water International Indoor Hockey Festival, currently underway at the National Gymnasium.
The second night of the tournament which concludes tomorrow
saw its first taste of international flare as the YMCA men, Fatima of Trinidad and as well as the Trinidad Police Force all made their debuts for 2013.
YMCA led 5-1 at the end of the first session through superstar Rohan ‘Teno’ Thomas who netted in the second minute of the match using his blistering pace to overlap up the right side and slam his shot home.
Thomas added a second goal two minutes later and although Hikers’ striker Robert France pulled his team back within one in the seventh minute, Thomas completed his hatrick five minutes later to give YMCA a 3-1 lead.
The Hikers produced moments of brilliance but outstanding goalkeeping from Azad DeAbreu for the YMCA kept them scoreless for the rest of the half.
YMCA put the game seemingly beyond the Hikers by half time as Sean Harewood and Ryan Cowie drilled in one a piece before the break.
The Hikers in typical manner held their nerve in the second half and did not disappoint their voluminous fans.
Young Aroydy Branford led the charge with a double strike while Devin Munroe, Jamarj Assanah and Captain France, with his second of the match, each marked their names on the score sheet.
Tony Cole managed to score the lone goal for YMCA in the second half leaving the final score at 6–6.
In the other men’s match of the evening, GCC put on a clinical display of hockey by demolishing Old Fort 7-1.
Led by an inspiring burst of play by striker Leonard George, which included a delicate reverse stick deflection, the Bourda Boys took control from the outset.
Midfield playmaker Kevin Spencer was first to score for GCC in the fifth minute but Old Fort managed to keep the game scoreless for the ensuing ten minutes until substitute George upon entering the game immediately made his presence felt with two goals in quick succession to give GCC the 3-0 lead.
Mark Sargeant managed to take the half time score to 4-0 with an accurate finish in the final minute of the first half.
Although Old Fort’s inspirational leader, Aderemi ‘Dove’ Simon was able to score a single for Old Fort in the second half, three more goals from Stuart Gonsalves, Spencer and Sargeant closed out the match for GCC at 7-1.
The GCC vets looked unstoppable as they chalked up their second easy victory of the competition with a 6-2 defeat of Trinidad’s Fatima.
The tireless Alan Fernandes proved too much for the Fatima defence as the midfielder tallied a helmet trick (4 goals) for the match which was accompanied by singles from Philip Fernandes and Damon Woodroffe.
Nicholas Wren put in a spirited performance for Fatima but his two goals fell shy of the requirement leaving GCC the runaway victors at 6-2.
The Trinidad Police suffered some flight complications and paid a heavy price for having to field a diminished side against the Hickers in the other Caribe vets division clash.
The Hikers ended with a resounding 13-0 victory, with a five goal haul from striker George Melville, a hatrick from Amanda Garnett, a double from Devin Munroe and singles from Robert Fernandes, James Mentore and Brian Asregado.
