By Michelangelo Jacobus

FRIDAY night was one full of high-paced action and upsets as the Georgetown Guinness ‘Greatest of the Streets’ quarterfinals and semifinals were played at the National Cultural Centre tarmac.

After the dust settled, the exciting Albouystown-B team had won the right to challenge defending Georgetown and National champions Gold is Money in the final.

En route to the final, Albouystown-B secured the semi-final spot by beating Back Circle 2-1 on sudden-death penalties in the first quarterfinal of the night. Later on in the night, they faced a determined Sophia in the semifinal and some clinical finishing from Lennox ‘Tyga’ Cort ensured that they ran out 3-2 winners.

Sophia, who are known for their defence, conceded after nine minutes when Cort slammed home, after some fine passing. He added a second in the 18th minute and Marlon Nedd put Albouystown 3-0 up just three minutes later.

However, Sophia refused to roll over and had the crowd on edge when they netted a late Guinness Goal (a goal scored in the final three minutes of the game counts as 2) to make things interesting at 3-2. But Albouystown held firm to book the final berth.

Earlier in the night, Sophia had needled crowd favourite Sparta Boss in the quarter-finals to create a major upset. Dwayne ‘Goofy’ Lowe’s fourth-minute goal proved to be the deciding factor but not before Sparta came close to equalising on several occasions However Sophia defended staunchly to end 1-0 winners.

Meanwhile, defending champions Gold is Money had a comfortable path to the final. First they dispatched Tiger Bay 2-0 in the quarter-final stage with Randolph Wagner netting a brace. His goals came in the 9th and 20th minutes respectively.

The Gold is Money juggernaut rolled on without any hiccup as Jermin Junor and Randolph Wagner netted a goal apiece in their 2-0 victory over Broad Street in the semi-final, Junor opened the scoring in the 17^th minute before Wagner doubled their lead just two minutes later.

The victory meant that Gold is Money gave themselves a chance to defend their Georgetown title and a shot at the $500 000 winners’ purse.

Earlier in the night Broad Street had needed sudden-death penalties to get past Leopold Street in their opening quarter-final after regulation and extra-time ended goalless. Broad Street held their nerves to come out 2-1 winners.

The final of the Georgetown Guinness ‘Greatest of the Streets’ Championship was being played at the D’Urban Park tarmac last night and up to press time no scores were available,

Fixtures – Final Night

Final

Gold is Money vs Albouystown-B

3rd Place

Sophia vs Broad Street

Plate Final

Winners (1) vs Winners (2)

Plate Semifinal

Leopold Street vs Tiger Bay – 19:00hrs

Back Circle vs Sparta Boss – 19:45hrs