ANNAI Secondary defied the odds on Sunday evening to be crowned champions of the second edition of the Petra Organisation’s KFC Goodwill football tournament.

Played at the Ministry of Education ground on Carifesta Avenue, the game was tense in the lead up but by the final whistle, the margin was 2-0 in favour of Annai over Lodge Secondary.

Annai stayed true to their attacking mindset and from the first whistle they got started causing trouble in the Lodge backline.

The Region Nine team wasted little time in going for goal, having three tries on the goal in less than 10 minutes into the game.

However, it was eventual Most Valuable Player (MVP) Junior Rodrigues who opened Annai’s account in the 20th minute.

He pounced on a volley from a corner piece to send a screamer past the goalkeeper and send those in attendance into frenzy.

Niaaz Mohamed doubled the team’s lead just three minutes later after some fancy footwork allowed him to ‘dance’ into the box and deliver a low shot that was just out of the diving Lodge keeper’s hands.

At the half, Annai were leading but on the resumption, Lodge came out fiercely. Try as they might, however, they could not pierce the backline of the hinterland team.

In the third-place playoff earlier in the evening, Shiva Boys made light work of DC Caesar Fox (Waramadong) Secondary 3-1.

Adica Ash, the tournament’s highest goalscorer, added two more goals to Stephen Thomas’s opener in the 15th minute being the other goal.