WEST Demerara Football Association (WDFA) celebrated their debut in the Stag Super XVI knock-out competition in fine style when both their teams, Uitvlugt Warriors and Beavers FC. won their matches on the opening night at the Leonora Track Football Field on Wednesday night.Recently elected Guyana Football Federation president Wayne Forde and vice-president Rawlston Adams both witnessed the opening match that saw Beavers thump East Bank’s Herstelling Raiders 6-2 and Uitvlugt squeeze past East Demerara’s BV Triumph United by the lone goal in a scorching battle.

Forde, in remarks to the teams before performing the traditional kick-off, congratulated them for being part of the competition that involved 16 teams from West Demerara, East Bank and the East Demerara Football Associations.
The GFF boss committed the federation to assisting and guiding the development of the game on and off the field of play in a structured way that will grow the game for the benefit of all.
The feature game of the double-header between Uitvlugt and BV Triumph United produced end-to-end action from start to finish as the battling players sought to gain the upper hand of the many exciting exchanges.
Chances were created at both ends but the constant bugbear of poor finishing was very evident. Many of the opportunities were too easy to miss but somehow the players missed.
As the minutes ticked away many fans and players too were contemplating the possibility of extra time in order to arrive at a winner but Uitvlugt had other ideas.
The West Demerara No.1 side, through one of their most potent forwards, Sean Bobb, brother of current Golden Jaguar Trayon Bobb, scored a beauty with just two minutes remaining in regulation, much to the delight of his teammates and supporters.
The goal saw BV’s goalkeeper Rayshawn Simon, who had a good evening, not able to deny Bobb and Uitvlugt a Christmas night (Farm ground) date. The winner of the Victoria Kings/Stewartville will clash today at the Victoria ground, East Coast Demerara. It is the second year that BVTU have faltered at the round-of-16 stage.
Beavers were led to their emphatic 6-2 win over fellow-debutants Herstelling Raiders by Junior Withrite and Esan Nelson who both netted three goals each. Beavers, a more seasoned unit at this level, took some time to get into the scoring act. But even before that, Herstelling had two chances but failed to make them count.
Once the West Bank-based Beavers got going they made sure Herstelling had no chance of coming back despite the East Bank boys scoring two goals.
Withrite opened the scoring in the 31st minute from the penalty spot. He found the net again in the 42nd and 75th minutes to seal the fate of the opposition. His teammate Nelson while also hammering home three goals became the first player of the tournament to be red-carded as a result of his second bookable offence in the 88th minute.
Nelson scored in the 35th, 39th and 63rd minutes and would have to miss his team’s next match against the winner of today’s first game of a double-header between Ann’s Grove and Eagles at the Victoria ground. That game will be a quarter-final clash on Boxing night also at the Victoria ground.