Slingerz and Boys’ Town play to entertaining draw

… Alpha United easily disposed of Buxton United 2-0
A 90TH MINUTE goal from Peter Keys helped the visiting Boys’ Town Football Club of Jamaica to secure a 1-1 draw against a determined Slingerz Football Club when action in the Vizion Sounds Entertainment Goodwill tournament got on the way last Wednesday evening at the Georgetown Football Club ground.
The Jamaicans snared the point from the contest, after the ‘West Side’ team went ahead in the 19th minute through an Anthony ‘Awo’ Abrams goal, while in the opening game of the double-header, Edison Gomes scored twice (36th, 56th minutes) to give Alpha United a 2-0 victory over Buxton United.
Scores of persons turned out to see for the first time in 21 years, a Jamaican club team play in Guyana and it was 90 minutes of pulsating football, as the fans were certainly kept entertained throughout the back-and-forth encounter.
The diminutive Abrams, who became Slingerz’ latest goal-scoring machine as he head into the contest with seven goals from two games, wasted little time in showing the Jamaicans why he’s considered one of the best forwards in Guyana.
In fact, teaming up with Suriname national striker Wensley ‘Dutch Boy’ Christoph and Guyana’s very own Devon Millington at the top, Abrams and Slingerz were able to wreak havoc in the opening minutes of the game.
A slick flick of the ball to Millington by Abrams from a little fancy play by Christoph resulted in Slingerz getting the shot on goal, though it went just wide, loud cheers erupting from the crowd in appreciation of the innovation by the trio who were playing together for the first time.
The first 10 minutes of the game saw Slingerz press their Jamaican counterparts into falling back and playing more defensive but the story of the game changed just after the visiting side got comfortable on the pitch.
Just as Boys’ Town were settling into their own, Slingerz opened the scoring through their talismanic striker Abrams, who scored thanks to some unselfish play from Christoph.
After Boys’ Town goalkeeper Kirk Porter unwisely left his goal-line to advance towards the attacking Christoph, even though his defenders Victor Thompson and Wayne Ellis seemed to have things under control, Abrams received a slick pass to a wide open goal.
Despite being down, the Jamaicans were highly admired by the Guyanese who made them feel at home, by showing appreciation when it was due and it would’ve been hard for them not to do so, since the Andrew Price-coached team were able to send the Slingerz defence scrambling on several occasions through their nifty forward Rafiek Thomas.
Thomas kept national goalkeeper Richard Reynolds busy, causing him to pull out several stops during the Jamaican raid, even as two power outages threatened to hamper the up-tempo clash in the second half but the game was so intense, fans waited and certainly not in vain.
Millington came near to giving Slingerz the 2-0 advantage; collecting a pass from Christoph that caught the defenders in a lapse but going one-on-one with Porter, Millington sent the ball sailing over the crossbar.
As time ticked away, Slingerz supporters were seen literally on the edge of their seats, knowing that the way the Jamaicans were playing a goal seemed inevitable. And it was!.
Boys’ Town won a corner and the kick taken was sent to the top of the 18-yard box, where Slingerz’ Collin Nelson and Solomon Austin were already on the ball to head it clear, when out of nowhere Reynolds came rushing out to punch it out.
That he did successfully, but the loose ball landed nicely on the feet of a lurking Keys who slammed in a beautiful right-footed volley into an open goal after Reynolds was late to recover from what many feel was a nonsensical and unwanted rush to clear the ball.
Tempers flared after the equalising goal was scored, resulting in Slingerz’ Clive Nobrega receiving a straight red card for violent conduct on the pitch, even as time did not permit the two teams to make any further attempt on goal.