St Cuthbert Mission crush Achievers Academy 6-0

WITH a capacity crowd on hand that included their Village Toshao Luke Simon, St Cuthbert’s Mission, led by a hat-trick of goals from Nixon D’Oliveira, inflicted a crushing 6-0 win over tournament debutants Achievers Academy yesterday, at St Cuthbert’s Mission ground in Region 4 last Sunday.Playing in the fourth Annual Digicel Schools Football Championships in soggy conditions, Achievers Academy were given a torrid introduction to the tournament, especially with the partisan support that roared vociferously all afternoon in support of their team.
D’Oliveira found the back of the net in the 19th, 28th and 33rd minutes, while Paul Henry (26th), Zak Ferreira (37th) and Levland Jacobs (66th) were also on target for the winning team.
After an opening period that saw both teams threatening to score, the hosts eventually entered the scoresheet courtesy of a penalty which was awarded by referee Dion Inniss for a handled ball inside the box, which D’Oliveira nonchalantly dispatched into the right side of the goal.
Urged on by their supporters, the home team continued to attack and managed to increase their advantage when the nippy Henry who was given room to operate on the left flank, weaved past one tackle, before firing past the keeper into the far corner.
That caused euphoric celebrations among their fans as the team’s relentless pursuit for more goals seemed to never cease and their intensity paid off two minutes later when D’Oliveira delivered a screaming shot over the outstretched hands of a scrambling Shawn Harry and into the far corner to take a comfortable 3-0 lead.
D’Oliveira was not finished as he calmly lashed in a penalty that was awarded to his team, following a second handled ball inside the sacred area, leaving Inniss with no choice but to award the spot kick and despite both teams playing their hearts out for the duration of the first half, no more goals materialised and St Cuthbert’s took a handy 4-0 advantage to the break.
The start of the second stanza brought no reprieve for the visitors and their afternoon of difficulty continued when Ferreira swept in a clinical pass from the right side, before Jacobs put the game out of reach for the visitors with a sweet finish from a fine run from the halfway line.
No team managed to score after and St Cuthbert’s clinched the win and with it a meeting with Soesdyke in their next fixture.
Meanwhile, the persistent weather conditions that prevailed throughout the Capital City for the past 48 hours, forced a postponement of yesterday’s matches, while at the Rosignol Community Centre ground in West Berbice, Number 8 Secondary won by a walkover from Woodley Park who failed to show up for their engagement.
All rescheduled matches will be replayed at a later date, while the action is expected to continue today with five more matches kicking off at 15:30hrs, including the marquee matchup between 2011 semifinalists New Amsterdam Technical Institute (NATI) and Berbice Educational Institute (BEI) at Skeldon.

(Calvin Roberts)