Lashley is top goalscorer and MVP, as Eagles take $400 000  top prize
TRENTON ‘Bangaree’ Lashley landed himself the top goalscorer and the tournament’s Most Valuable Player (MVP) awards, as Eagles carted off the inaugural Banks DIH-sponsored Linden Guinness ‘Greatest of De Streets’ competition with a 3-2 victory over Retrieve Unknown in the final at the Amelia’s Ward/Wisroc Mini-Bus Park last Saturday night. The final which had at stake $400 000 going to the victorious team, saw Deon Charter finish a superb back heel pass which went across the goal where he was stationed on the right side, to record the first goal in the 5th minute.
This partially silenced the pre-game crowd support which weighed heavily at that time in favour of the Retrieve Unknown and brought some measure of balance in the chanting of support for the two teams, which had battled past 30 others to reach this stage of the tournament.
The Eagles had settled in early and playing with precision and purpose they had good build-ups for the challenge at hand, which enabled them to control the flow of the game in the end.
With a 1-0 lead at halftime, Lashley scored his eighth goal of the tournament with a beauty as he pierced the wall of a defender who stooped low but late, as the ball burst through before he could have squatted in time to level the score for Eagles.
Retrieve Unknown replied one minute later thanks to a Deon McKinnon goal to take a 2-1 advantage over their West Side-based opponents.
But the eventual champions were not to be outdone easily and Darrel George was there to level the scores with a dominant strike in the 28th minute as the game was heading for the final whistle.
However, the deadlock was broken one minute later, when Eagles were awarded a penalty as the Retrieve Unknown defence blocked the goal mouth, with the resulting kick converted by Lashley for his ninth goal of the tournament, leaving his opponents to settle for the second prize of $250 000.
In the third place playoff game One Mile/Half Mile (OMHM) defeated Coomacka 4-3, with Trevor Tudor scoring the first goal in the fifth minute of play, before Kerron Daw replied for Coomacka two minutes later.
An intense game ensued which saw OMHM taking the lead thanks to Colrick Beckles’ 11th minute strike which was extended when Shawn Gittens and Steve Brewley added their goals in the 20th and 24th minute respectively.
Back-to-back goals from Adrian Fiedtkou failed to save the day for Coomacka, as OMHM prevailed by a 4-3 score to secure the $150 000 third-place prize, leaving Coomacka to settle for $75 000.
Lashley was awarded the Golden Boot for his nine goals scored in the inaugural championship and the MVP trophy for his overall performance throughout the tournament.
Banks DIH Guinness Brand Manager Lee Baptiste along with Communications Manager Troy Peters, Linden Branch Manager Ms Shondell Easton and organisers of the event Sharma Solomon, Keiron Sealey and Clyde Brusche were all introduced to the teams before the final.
Baptiste, Peters and Easton helped in the distribution of the cash incentives and trophies won by the teams in the final four.