… Big crowd witness night of enthralling action
OVER 3 000 street football enthusiasts converged on the National Cultural Centre (NCC) tarmac last Friday night to witness the commencement of the knockout round of the second annual Banks DIH-sponsored Guinness ‘Greatest of De Streets’ football tournament.
What they got was a night of enthralling and entertaining action from the 16 teams that qualified to reach that point of the tournament and even though eight of them made a gracious exit, their performances left tongues wagging.
In the first matchup of the evening, Norton Street (Werk-en-Rust) defeated North Last Entrance 2-1, with Rajesh George and Nigel De Camp scoring for the victors in the fifth and 22nd minutes respectively while Travis ‘Zorro’ Grant pulled back one for his side in the 17th minute.
Devon Dooker continued to find the back of the net for Albouystown ‘B’, doing so on three occasions in the 1st, 2nd and 9th minutes to steer his side to a 3-0 win over an out-of-sorts-looking Costello Housing Scheme lineup.
However, it was the third fixture of the evening between East Front Road and Laing Avenue which captured the hearts of the fans gathered and, at the same time, whetted their appetites for an exciting evening, as both teams fought tooth and nail for supremacy.
While Laing Avenue were looking to play team football, East Front Road seemed bent on proving a point amongst themselves as to who is the better player, as their lineup included players in the calibre of Vashile Cantzlaar from BK Western Tigers and former Santos Football Club skipper Seon McKenzie.
East Front Road broke the deadlock, when Shaka Jones found an unmarked Timothy Telford who worked his way down the right touchline and sent a wonderful pass to Mark Hart who scored the goal in the 11th minute amidst protests from Laing Avenue’s team for the ball going out of play.
The whistle sounded to signal lemon-time with East Front Road leading, but that was nullified one minute after play resumed, as Lennox ‘Ochro’ Younge scored the equaliser amidst a sea of East Ruimveldt players.
At the end of regulation and extra time, the score line remained the same resulting in penalty kicks being used to decide the winner, with Laing Avenue coming out on top 6-5, after McKenzie missed his during the sudden-death kickout.
Like Dooker, Leon ‘Zambulie’ Yaw continued to impress in this tournament which is being played for the second year following a one-year absence, when he rocked the net in the 22nd and 30th minute for Alexander Village who chalked up a 2-0 win over Queen Street (Tiger Bay), one of the favourite teams in the tournament.
The Sophia/East La Penitence encounter was also decided via penalty kicks following a nil-all draw, with the former coming out on top 3-2 even though Shemroy Arthur played the entire matchup without being substituted.
Elroy Parks scored Stevedore Housing Scheme’s lone goal in the 5th minute as they stopped Cultural Centre Tarmac, following which Ola Pedro and Michael Oie rocked West Front Road’s goal in the 14th and 22nd minute to hand West Back Road a 2-1 victory, with Stellon David scoring for the losing side.
Quarter-final action will kick off at the National Park tonight from 20:00 h, with Albouystown ‘A’ facing Norton Street (Werk-en-Rust), West Front Road taking on Stevedore Housing Scheme, Sophia meeting Broad Street ‘B’ and Alexander Village taking on Laing Avenue.