HAVING lost their first-round game to Cross Street on the second night of action in the inaugural Petra Organisation/Guyana Beverage Inc. Busta soft shoe football tournament, Queen Street-Tiger Bay rebounded to defeat Stevedore 5-2 on the third night of action last Tuesday, courtesy of a Dion Alfred hat-trick.Also chalking up victory on the night at the Georgetown Football Club (GFC) ground, were Ballerz, Alexander Village, Kitty Weavers, North Ruimveldt and Sparta Boss, with both Ballerz and Sparta Boss making it two out of two.

Queen Street and Stevedore met in the opening encounter of the night’s six matches and after an eventful first half in which both custodians kept a clean slate the game’s seven goals were scored in the second half, within the final 10 minutes.
Darren Harris, who supported Alfred with a double, opened the scoring in the 20th minute for Queen Street, before Alfred tripled the score with two of his three goals in the 21st and 22nd minutes of play.
Two minutes later (24th), the score read 4-0 in favour of Queen Street, as Alfred completed his hat-trick, while Harris added his 25th minute goal, making it 5-0 in favour of the eventual winners, who saw Ryan Blackman net a brace for Stevedore in the 28th and 29th minutes.
Ballerz, who started the competition with a 6-5 victory over D’Urban Street on the first night of action, made it two out of two, when they defeated Sophia 2-1, with Amos Ramsay hitting a double in the 4th and 24th minute, while Dwayne Lowe responded with Sophia’s solitary strike in the 16th minute.
Alexander Village were held to a 4-4 draw by Charlestown in their first round action, but rebounded to defeat California Square, who lost out 4-2 to Sparta Boss in the first round, 2-1, as Dwayne Lynn (19th) and Delon Williams (28th) netted for Alexander Village who allowed Vassel Cantzlar to score for California Square in the 20th minute.
In the fourth game of the night, Kitty Weavers rebounded from their 4-1 drubbing at the hands of Festival City, to defeat Leopold Street 3-2 to chalk up their first win after two matches.
Sherwin Vincent (5th), Wendell St Hill (10th) and Jermin Denhard (30th) were the players responsible for Kitty Weavers’ goals, while Andre Sookhoo tried desperately to keep Leopold Street in the hunt for a victory, by nullifying both Vincent and St. Hill’s goals, with his double scored in the 10th and 20th minutes.
Current Georgetown Guinness ‘Greatest of De Streets’ champions North Ruimveldt also chalked up their first win after a first round draw with Globe Yard, by defeating West Back Road 4-2, led by Jamal Hamilton’s brace (6th and 28th) and solitary strikes from Joshua Browne (16th) and Nichosie Barker (20th).
Jamal Haynes and Philip Rowley got solitary strikes for West Back Road in the 13th and 15th minutes of play, but it was not enough to hand them their first victory in their opening encounter of the tournament which has a first place prize of $600 000.
The curtain came down on the third night, with Sparta Boss coming from behind, as they did in their first game against California Square, to defeat Charlestown 3-2, thanks to a double strike from Dennis Edwards.
Charlestown opened the scoring in the 5th minute when Clyde Bascom scored the first of his two goals, with Edwards erasing that lead with his first goal in the 14th minute, before Bascom placed Charlestown ahead by completing his double in the 17th minute.
Not to be outdone, Sheldon Shepherd, who supported Edwards in the goal-scoring column for Sparta, placed his name on the scorer’s sheet in the 18th minute to level the scores before Edwards completed his double and the win for Sparta with his 27th minute goal.
The action will continue tonight at the same venue with six more matches, as teams continue to familiarise themselves with the rules and regulations which govern the tournament, as the hunt for the top prize intensifies.
Meanwhile, as the action unfolds on the reduced playing area, another business entity from corporate Guyana, Junior’s Jewellery Gallery and Pawn Shop, has come out in support of the tournament which will see the second- to fourth-placed finishers cart off $300 000, $200 000 and $100 000.
The jewellery store, located on Robb Street, Georgetown, has committed to providing the highest goalscorer of the game with a gold chain. Director of the Petra Organisation, Troy Mendonca, at the simple handing-over ceremony last Monday expressed his gratitude for the contribution.
“It is good to reward the person that entertains the fans and this will only add to the success of the tournament,” Mendonca noted, while proprietor of the store, Ferdinand Bacchus, was pleased to be on board the tournament which will see the each group stage leader take home $30 000, while the second- to fourth-placed finishers will receive $20 000, $15 000 and $10 000 respectively.
“The reason for doing this is that I think football always needs a little more; in spite of how much it might get, it always needs some more … so this is just a token for the player,” Bacchus stated.