Slingerz edge Santos to cart off $4M top prize

… Tigers beat GDF 2-1 in the third place play-off

SLINGERZ FOOTBALL Club were last Wednesday night crowned new champions of the Georgetown Football Association (GFA)/Banks Beer Knockout Cup after edging Santos 3-2 in the final that was played at the Guyana National Stadium, Providence.
Devon Millington led the way for Slingerz FC with a double in the 11th and 69th minutes while team mate Vurlon Mills supported with a lone goal in the 61st minute while for Santos, guest player Wesley Christoff booted in a double in the 15th and 62nd minutes in the team’s losing cause.
The win for Slingerz has earned them the top cash prize of $4M, while Santos will be rewarded for their sterling effort with $2.5M cash prize, even as the top four teams will also receive trophies and medals.
In the third-place play-off, Hubert Pedro and Rensford Coleridge netted for Western Tigers in the 21st and 36th minutes respectively to steer the West Ruimveldt-based side to victory against the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) and claim the $1.5M third-place cash prize.
Delroy Fraser scored GDF’s lone goal in the 83rd minute. The Army boys will receive $1M for finishing fourth in the tournament that saw 32 teams vie for championship honours when it kicked off last December.
In the feature game that was played before a very huge crowd, Slingerz who started as clear favourites made their intention known from the first whistle, as they launched an assault on Santos’ goal area, but were kept at bay by a stubborn Santos defence wall.
However, the West Demerara-based side were able to fire three shots to the opposition’s goal within the first eight minutes of play, but remarkable goal-keeping by national custodian and Santos guest player Richard Reynolds rendered their efforts null and void.
The Slingerz kept pressuring the opposition’s defence and were rewarded in the 11th minute from a build-up that started from their defence down the left flank and found themselves with a two-on-three situation in Santos’ 18-yard box.
With Reynolds off his line trying to cut off the angle at first post, Slingerz left winger made a through pass to Millington who was at the top of the 12-yard box and he (Millington) obliged by slotting the ball to the back of the net under a diving Reynolds.
Four minutes later, however, Santos responded from a counter-attacking play down the middle of the pitch.
The ball was lobbed from Santos half of the field to Christoff who out-ran a defender, latched on to the ball and dribbled it into the 18-yard box, saw the opposition’s goalkeeper Ronson Williams advance and did not hesitate, but took a powerful left-foot shot that entered the goal at second post to level the score, which remained unchanged up to the whistle ending the first session.
On resumption, Slingerz continued their relentless attack but Santos were equal to the task and it was not until the 16th minute into the second session that Slingerz went ahead when Mills beat Reynolds.
However, their celebration was short-lived as Santos once again found the equaliser and the score remained until the 89th minute with Millington’s second goal.
Meanwhile, in the opening game, Pedro sent Western Tigers into the lead after the ball was played from the left side to the right side of the 18-yard box in GDF’s goal area. It was then played back to the left side and a mix-up by the soldiers’ defence gave Pedro an opening and he gladly obliged with a flat shot inside GDF’s goal at first post.
Despite a 0-1 deficit, GDF were the more dominant of the two teams in the midfield but Western Tigers got an opportunity to extend the lead and they took it with open arms.
The ball was played down the left wing and crossed to Coleridge who was in GDF’s penalty box and Coleridge slipped it past an advancing GDF custodian.
Leading 2-0 up to the 83rd minute and just when it looked like that will be the final score, the Army rebounded from a build-up down the left flank and the ball was passed to Fraser, who was positioned in Western Tigers’ 18-yard box so he slipped it past Tigers’ custodian.

(By Michael DaSilva)