AN evening of 17 goals brightened the second night of the GFA Banks Beer Soccer Festival, the Banks Beer KO Cup tournament when Guyana’s top club Alpha ‘The Hammer’ United FC and Beacon FC were winners 11-0 and 5-1 respectively over their opponents Charlestown FC and Flamingo FC at the GFC ground, Bourda.
Alpha United FC, who have represented Guyana at the CFU and CONCACAF club championship levels with success have been dominating the local football scene for the past five years.
Against the inexperienced Charlestown United on Wednesday evening the hammer men displayed their authority in possession of the ball and drew the attention of their opponents who tried the similar strategy but failed against their seniors throughout the duration of the game.
This action and equal goal-scoring blunders in the first five minutes of the game saw an equally balanced game until three minutes later when former national forward Andrew Murray found the net to open the account for Alpha in the 9th minute.
It was then that the fight intensified and the Charlestown guys continued the battle against Alpha, squandering two opportunities in four minutes from Ola ‘Solo Tallboy’ Pedro.
Pedro who played at midfield failed to penetrate Alpha’s defence and had little support from his teammates as they conceded another goal four minutes later giving Murray his second goal of the night.
The score was now 2-0 and the resumption saw more opportunities being thrown away from the Charlestown side giving Alpha the upper hand of the game.
Murray broke away on the right side of play from the Charlestown defenders and found the goalkeeper out of position to slip the ball at the first post and add to the score sheet, commanding a 3-0 lead while Anthony ‘Awo’ Abrams got the fourth goal in the 38th minute sending the score to 4-0 at the end of the first half.
On resumption there was no holding back for Murray who came at them and in the 47th minute scored again.
The Charlestown boys, who for some time tried to defend for all it’s worth and had a last chance to get to the G$3M winning prize, failed to stop the hammer men as Dwight Peters took a ripper on target to score.
Two minutes later he returned for his second goal. Manasah Primo, Leon Grumble and Ronson Williams scored the other goals, concluding at 11-0.
In the supporting game Beacon FC tried to get closer to the last four in the tournament by defeating Flamingo 5-1.
Paul Giles commenced the scoring in the 35th minute after what looked like a goalless first half with both teams defending their goals and trying to gain maximum possession of the ball.
Five minutes later, Renford Coleridge found the net scoring the second goal for the Beacon side ending the first half. Phillip Rowley charged to goal scoring in the 60th and 90th minute of the game while Giles returned for his second at the 88th minute ending the game at 5-1.
Terrance Nero was the loan scorer for Flamingo in the 89th minute.
The tournament continues on Sunday at the same venue and will see another double- header matchup when the GDF will meet Black Pearl and Riddim Squad will face University of Guyana.
At stake are over G$6M in cash and other prizes. Sponsors are Mc Neal Enterprises, Courtney Benn Construction Company Ltd, Banks DIH Ltd among others.