… Winners edge Panthers 2-1

SIXTH seed Silver Shattas kept their hopes of qualifying by beating the eighth-seed Blueberry Hill 2-1 as fourth-ranked Winners Connection clipped their way past Amelia’s Ward Panthers, the third seed, by a similar margin 2-1, as the Upper Demerara Football Association’s 6th GT Beer football championship continued on day two Wednesday night at the Mackenzie Sports Club (MSC) ground.

Playing in Group Three, Winners Connection opened their account in the 36th minute through a header from Jonah Simon. It came after a free kick, driven by Jomaine Samuels, was not grasped by the goalkeeper and in ‘spitting the ball’ out his grasp from the force of the shot, Simon was there to head home the ball and send his team into a 1-0 lead .
However, despite that lead the Blueberry Hill looked a far better side from the recent league championship and tied things up when they equalised through a strike from the boot of Royston Fraser on the stroke of the halftime whistle.

But the Shattas would gain the ascendancy again this time from a free kick taken by Randy Pickering which came in the 50th minute and they would remain 2-1 in the lead when the final whistle came.
The Shattas now await the result of their other group game where Net Rockers will take on Blueberry Hill next Friday to complete that three-team group play.

The other game also was a tussle between Winners Connection and Amelia’s Ward Panthers. Winners gained the lead in the 21st minute when Marley Davidson netted but the Panthers’ Akeem Caesar knotted the scores in the 33rd minute and that remained to the end of the first half.

However, the Winners Connection gained the lead for good when the ball was played wide. Errol David continued the forward march on the flank and sent it into the middle for Davidson to find the back of the net in the 56th minute.

The game could have seen a few more goals on either side of play, but in the end the Winners Connection prevailed 2-1.

The win puts Winners Connection in a good position where they can be the team advancing but that depends on the result of the game on Sunday when Panthers face Topp XX in the second game of a double- header.
In the first game on Sunday, Capital FC will face Hi Stars in a battle of the lower rated clubs.