…holds perfect five-point lead from 5 wins

By: Ras Wadada

After 15 matches to conclude the first half of the six-team GFF-Stag Elite League’s truncated season two, one team stands supremely at the top of the summit, five points clear of their nearest rival after winning all five of their games.
The Guyana Defense Force, in commanding fashion, dismantled every other opposition of the League with much ease, except for their penultimate fixture against home team, Monedderlust FC who threatened to share the points with 6 minutes to the end regulation time. In a two-minute burst of lightning speed the League’s top marksman, Sherwyn Caesar produced a double to dent all hopes and silence the home fans. It was the closest any team got near to victory over the Army.

In my recollection of the games, and I missed few, this game was the most competitive and it brought out the key ingredient of preparedness for the moment. The Number Five Village team only have themselves to blame for not upstaging the Army since they created great scoring opportunities but failed to convert and when it mattered most, their tired defense could not respond to the quick acceleration of substitute Caesar who was prepared for the task to finish the game as he pushed his season account to six goals from four games.

There were other closely contested battles worthy of mention, like the first scoreless stalemate of the competition between Fruta Conquerors FC and Victoria Kings, taking into account the Kings were rebounding from their 7-1 drubbing in their opening Elite encounter and Conquerors brimful of confidence after putting away the other Elite debutant, Topp XX by a 4-0 margin. The double-header in Linden also must come in for some praise as the teams matched skills under heavy conditions with Conquerors eking out a 2-1 win over Buxton and the Army getting past Top XX by 4-1.

From the very first game of the season the Army emphatically announced their intentions and looked consistently cohesive throughout, a cut above the others. The evidence of their solid preparations has been in their results where they have tallied 21 goals from their quota of games, more than double their closest rival Conquerors with 10 and just below the total season tally of 50 goals.

The Bilaal Nantambu-coached side is the only side that trains twice daily and the players are paid a monthly salary, hence they deservedly top the table. The main play makers have been midfielders Captain Delwin Fraser and Eusie Phillips complemented by Jerome Richardson and the lanky Aubrey Greene in the central defense. The main men on target have been Caesar, Delroy Fraser and the burly Jeffrey Perreira. It has been a solid all-round performance by the soldiers in maintaining a flawless first half towards the $6M GY top prize at the end of the second half.

There were other outstanding individual performances that gave hope to their respective teams and among them are Buxton United’s teenager Dillon Wright, Kevin Cottoye of Monedderlust, Sherlock Dowden of the Kings and Conquerors’ Kwame La Fleur and Jermine Junor.

The young Conquerors unit must be commended for their sterling efforts while the Kings improved every game. The young Buxton side might feel they missed out on maximum points in close 2-1 defeats to the Kings and Conquerors, while Monedderlust played well in spurts but the bottom side Top XX was a far way off preparedness. They will have to be ready so as to improve on their three goals scored all season and the 13 they have allowed in, the most goals conceded by any team, or they can have a repeat of the first half where they ended as the only side without a win.

In total, 32 cards were dished out by the referees during the first half with the Army and Conquerors, combined, securing more than half. Five Red cards were served with Conquerors receiving three and the Army two. Both sides accumulated 7 Yellow each while Buxton and Monedderlust got 4 apiece, Topp XX three and the team with the least, Kings who were only cautioned twice.
The teams have started an unusually long break and will not be back in action until next year February when hopefully we can have vastly improved performances by all the followers behind the perfect Army’s march and as well as attendance at games.

Even before a ball is kicked in the second half of Guyana’s top flight football League, there will be the most interesting Transfer window in January. During this off the pitch period it will be interesting to see if the players, who are members of the four teams that withdrew from the Elite League season two, will be allowed to transfer to other teams since, as it is now, their respective clubs are not in good standing with the GFF which in effect includes them.