Two more teams will walk the line whilst two will book places in the round of 16 of the STAG Nations Cup knockout when action continues today at the Leonora Track and Field Facility, Leonora, West Coast Demerara with a double header.
Director of Sport Christopher Jones looks up to see clearance before shooting for goal to officially open the tournament
East Bank’s Kuru Kururu Warriors will battle West Demerara’s Den Amstel in the feature match at 20:30h with the curtain raiser between another West side team, Young Achievers and City side Northern Rangers from 18:30h. Matches will continue tomorrow at the #5 ground in West Berbice when round-of-16 action commences proper. Cougars will match skills with Riddim Squad in opening play from 19:00h with the main attraction between Police and Rosignol United.
In opening day rivalry at the Golden Grove ground, Eats Coast Demerara on Wednesday night last, New Amsterdam United (NAU) staved off the early onslaught from Golden Stars of East Demerara to prevail in (sudden death) kicks from the penalty mark while City side Flamingo needled Mahaicony Thunderhawks.
Battling in the feature match following the official kick off of the tournament by Director of Sport Christopher Jones, on field rivalry commenced in earnest with teams battling to get into the round of 16.
Enjoying good home support, Golden Stars ventured out in confidence and were all over the New Amsterdam side that was playing their first competitive match for the year. They {NAU} showed signs of ring rust but as the match progressed they began to settle in and held their own.
Golden Stars have only themselves to blame as they set up shop in the NAU half of the field for a greater part of the first half; created a plethora of chances but failed miserably to finish. Their lapses certainly came back to haunt them later as they flopped in crunch time allowing the team from the East to prevail much to the disappointment of the home fans.
The second half saw NAU showing more signs of competitiveness and as the match wore on the momentum swung their way. After regulation and 15 minutes of extra time failed to separate the two teams, kicks from the penalty mark was the next option.
NAU scored their first three kicks through Captain Leonardo Adams, Graham Thomas, and Steffon Boucher but missed their fourth shot whilst the fifth was saved by Golden Stars Custodian, Akomo Jack. Jack scored his team’s first goal, NAU’s goalie Jovano Dos Santos punched away their next shot on goal which was taken by Carlos Kingston who also threw away a sitter from inside the box early in the match.
Their next goal was scored by Rundel Liverpool, after which Stephon Walcott hit the crossbar and their fifth was clinically put away to leave the score tied at 3-3 after the first five kicks. The home team, under pressure, threw away their first sudden death kick which was taken by Calvin Lilly which made way for NAU’s Shkeel Grant who made no mistake in slamming the ball past Jack to send the home team packing whilst booking a date with Grove Hi Tech in the Round of 16 on December 23rd at the Diamond ground, EBD.
Flamingo sealed a memorable victory early in the clash with a tough Mahaicony Thunderhawks and owe their passage and date with fellow city side Western Tigers on Sunday at the GFC ground to their inspirational Captain, the indefatigable, Shemroy Porter. Thirteen-minutes into the match and during a period when the Thunderhawks were all over the Flamingos, Porter was smart in seeing Thunderhawks goalie Mark Roberts just off his line as he worked his way into the attacking third.
With the goal about 25 yards in sight, Porter let loose a ripping left foot dagger that sailed and curled past the outstretched hands of Roberts to settle at the back of the nets. It was a goal that had all and sundry in the ground applauded and a fitting way to start the tournament.
In remarks before officially kicking the tournament off, Director of Sport Christopher Jones complimented the organisers for bringing together five of the GFF associations. He said that the Nation Sports Commission and by extension the Ministry of Education, Department of Culture Youth and Sport will continue to support in any way possible, tournament of this nature to ensure young footballers have every opportunity to showcase their skills.
