FOLLOWING their stunning semifinal victory over a game Alexander Village, the Hubert Pedro led West Front Road quintet shocked defending champions Sparta Boss, to claim the top prize in this year’s fourth annual Mackeson ‘Keep Your Five Alive’ Futsal tournament at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall tarmac last Saturday night.A tense battle for supremacy was the order of the night, between two evenly matched sides who managed to ‘Keep Their Five Alive’ until the final hurdle, when West Front Road whose lineup also included Randolph Wagner, Jamal Pedro, Daniel Nagaloo and Darren Benjamin, took the title.
They defeated their opponents, whose lineup comprised of Devon Millington, Dennis Edwards, Sheldon Shepherd, Eusi Phillips and Jerome Richardson, 3-2 on penalty kicks after a tense nil all draw at the end of regulation and extra time.
Both finalists were the recipients of turf boots and balls, while for the win, each player on the West Front Road lineup received a pair of football boots, with both sets of boots being donated with the kind compliments of Clairann’s Boutique and Exclusive Styles respectively.
In addition to the above, West Front Road pocketed $300,000 and atrophy, leaving their defeated opponents to carry home $200,000 and the runner-up trophy.
In the first semifinal, West Front Road went up against a determined Alexander Village lineup, a contest that produced intense action from the opening whistle to the last one, with Benjamin missing a clear cut chance to put West Front Road ahead early in the second half.
Jamal Pedro also missed such an opportunity, followed by Wagner whose shot hit the left side post of the small goal and ricochet out of play, even as Nagaloo was forced to thwart the efforts of Shem Porter, Leon Yaw and Phillip Rowley, who were on the attack for Alexander Village.
Penalty kicks was used to decide a winner, following which Hubert Pedro missed the first kick for his team, sparking off loud whistles and cheers from the spectators who braved the overcast conditions and throng the venue to witness the action, while Eon Singh nailed his own for Alexander Village.
Nagaloo levelled the score from the spot, before Rowley pushed Alexander Village ahead, however, both Benjamin and Yaw missed their respective kicks, while Jamal Pedro and Benjamin scored theirs for West Front Road who advanced by a 3-2 scoreline.
In the second semifinal, Sparta Boss, like West Front Road, came up against a game Tiger Bay unit and after an intense first half, turned up the heat by using Phillips as a substitute for Edwards, to which the diminutive striker thrilled the crowd with his dazzling foot speed and dribbles.
One such move saw him eluding two of his markers, but his accurate pass to Sheldon was muffed, while Solomon Austin saw his shot pierced the line of players in front of Sparta Boss’ goal, but failed to get over the goal line.
A one-touch triangle play between Millington, Shepherd and Phillips in that order, saw Sparta Boss scoring their first of two goals in regulation time, as Phillips’ first time shot went through the legs of the defender and into the back of the net, much to the delight of his teammates and supporters, in the 19th minute.
One minute later and seconds before the final whistle was sounded, Phillips eluded Rensford Coleridge for the umpteenth time in the 20 minutes contest with a dribble called the nutmeg by his supporters, and sent a gem of a pass to Shepherd who made no mistake in finding the back of the goal.
There were two exhibition contests played in between the semifinals, which saw the Media XI maintaining their superiority over Qualfon, coming away with a 1-0 win in the first courtesy of Lionel Grimes’ goal, while Fusion and North East LaPenitence played to a nil all draw in the second.
Ansa McAl, DeSinco Trading, Colours Boutique, Clairann’s Boutique, Clear Water, Star Party Rentals, White Castle Fish Shop, and HJTV and its 94.1 Boom FM Radio were some of the sponsors who made this year’s tournament a possibility, to which the organiser Kevin Adonis wishes to say thanks.

(By Calvin Roberts)