By Joe Chapman
AFTER safely negotiating their way to the final, both Eagles United and Haynes and Lewis Winners Connection are to face off for the top prize when the final of the linden Town Week Mayor’s Cup football championship takes place from 21.00hrs tonight (Tuesday) at the Mackenzie Sports Club ground.
While that final game is the main event, the third-place playoff game between Net Rockers and Capital FC at 19.00hrs and a warm-up for the National Under-17 squad against a Linden Under -20 Selection from 18.00 hrs will begin the night of action.
Eagles United are the top tanked side and will retain that tag after this final as Net Rockers, who were ranked second, were knocked out by Winners Connection while Capital FC lost to Eagles in their semi-finals clash.
Eagles from Christianburg are slightly favoured to cart off the honours as their lead players have shown form and they are confident with their preparations.
Following their win over Capital FC, their coach ‘Toto’ Stephens acknowledged that it was a great game but said they were going back to the drawing board before the final.
Eagles coach ‘Toto’ Stephens said he knew that the Capital FC would come hard at his players because of their youthfulness, but his side was prepared for the challenge and knew that in the latter stages of the encounter, his side would have gained the upper hand based on its experience.
He was in high praise for the Capital FC side and said they are a side to watch. But he said they are going back to the drawing board for their championship game
Eagles United overcame the youthful challenge of Capital FC by a 3-1 margin while Haynes & Lewis Winners Connection prevailed by a 4-3 penalty kick score-line over Net Rockers to book their place.
In their semi-final clash, Winners Connection and Net Rockers played to a 1-1 stalemate and extra time failed to produce a winner which resulted in the game being put on the line from the penalty spot and the Winners Connection moved through via the 4-2 scoreline when Shaquille Frank gave them the lead in the 32nd minute only to see it cancelled out four minutes later by a Shane Luckie free-kick in the 36th minute.
Coach of the Haynes & Lewis Winners Connection, Orrin Trotman said “The game was a bit challenging for us as we had to put in lots of work to come out winners for this game. We have a set of young players and older ones and because of it being a relatively new team, it was not easy in getting them to synchronise well.”
In the second semi-final, Capital FC did play a tactical game and were in the hunt for an upset over the reigning Upper Demerara champions, Eagles United, who had taken the lead early through a Donovan Francis-strike in the 16th minute of play.
However, Capital FC matched their more seasoned rivals with energy and style as they were unafraid to come forward and give it their all.
