A SECOND-half double off the boot of Vincent Chin piloted Grove Hi Tech to a solid 4-1 win over Kuru Kururu Warriors in the first match of the GFF/Pele Alumni Frank Watson U-15 Intra Association League, East Bank Football Association (EBFA) leg, which kicked off last Saturday with a single match.

Following the march past which attracted ten of twelve possible teams, home team Grove and their arch rivals Kuru Kururu Warriors – based on the Linden Soesdyke Highway – squared off in the inaugural match of the league, the EBFA being the first association to commence the Intra Association tournament.

Teams have been on pause for almost one year but were finally given the opportunity to showcase their skills with the aim of coming out as the inaugural champions, but more importantly players would be aiming to be good enough to be called to the Academy Training Centre team, a precursor to national selection.

Watched by the president of GFF, Wayne Forde, along with EBFA president and Secretary Franklin Wilson and Wayne Francois, the Under-15 players played with passion from the first whistle with former EBFA female junior player of Diamond United, Diane Angoy, the referee in charge.

The fast-paced match saw both teams enjoy a fair amount of ball possession but it was the Warriors who drew first blood in the first minute of added-on time in the first half. Matches lasted 70 minutes.

Carl Punous nudged one past Hi Tech goalkeeper Ramesh Persaud, who also stood between the uprights in the club’s Ralph Green Under-11 campaign, but had to stand down in the final two matches because he had turned 12.

Despite the fact that they were a goal down going into the final 35 minutes, the home team never lost focus and their higher level of fitness made the difference in the long run.
The Warriors found the going tough as the game motored on and it was the Hi Tech boys who turned up the heat to the extent that they fired in four unanswered goals to take full points.

Zewdi Francois was the first on the score sheet for the home team with the neutralising goal in the 53rd minute that broke the back of the highway boys. Seven minutes later, the go-ahead goal came off the boot of Vincent Chin, his first of two, in the 60th minute.

Captain Devon Padmore doubled the advantage in the 63rd minute to put the game way beyond the reach of the Warriors who could not find an answer to the relentless offensive raids by the home team.

The icing was put on the cake with three minutes to full time, Chin achieving his double in the 67th minute of an entertaining match which saw a number of talented players on show.