Paradise and Rosignol register wins as GT Beer Football season opens in Berbice

The West Coast Berbice villages of Paradise and Rosignol have each registered wins in the second edition of the Candy Boss and Antics GT Beer 8-a-side Football Knockout tournament, which opened on Sunday evening at the All Saints School Ground on Princess Elizabeth Road in New Amsterdam.

The double-header saw a total of 19 goals being scored, as with a 13-1 drubbing of Black Sharks FC of Fyrish, Paradise FC signalled their intention to remain in the competition until the final night.
A helmet trick by Keyron McKenzie and hats tricks from Shaquille De Heart and Olvis Mitchell led the way for Paradise. McKenzie scored in the 15th, 17th, 35th and 40th minutes, while Mitchell opened the scoring in the 9th, and found the back of the net in the 3rd and 44th minutes.
De Heart scored in the 12th, 14th and 27th minutes of play. Aubrey Joseph, with goals in the 30th and 55th minutes, supported well, and there was one goal scored by Niol Reynolds in the 45th minute.
Wesley Crandon scored a consolation goal for the Black Sharks in the 51st minute.

Meanwhile, although Rosignol FC got off to a slow start, they were able to brush aside Corentyne All Stars 4-1. Corentyne All Stars dominated the twenty minutes of play, but could not find the back of the net despite six shots on target in that period.
Even with their dominance, they were down 1-nil after 20 minutes, when Rosignol seemed to be waking up.
Adrian Prince’s 9th minute goal and good goal-keeping from Rosignol summed up the first half of play.
However, in the second half of play, Prince’s two goals, backed up by Oddly Mickle’s 34-minute goal, accounted for the Rosignol dominance. Shane Campbell scored in the 24th minute in a losing effort for the All Stars.

The competition continues on Friday at the All Saints School Ground on Princess Elizabeth Road, when defending champions GT Police FC take on Pouderoyen FC in game one, and Santos and Timehri Panters battle in game two.

Officially launched on Friday at the New Amsterdam Town Council, the tournament will see 32 matches being played with teams stretching from Linden to Corriverton. The final is set for January 5, 2019. At stake in the competition is $600,000 for the winner and $300,000 for the runner-up team. The third place team will relieve $200,000.

Speaking at Friday’s launch, New Amsterdam Mayor Winifred Haywood thanked the beverage giants for coming on board for a second year to bring quality football to the town.
Banks DIH, she said, is evidently committed to the development of sport and to giving back to the communities which support the company.
“We want more of this in this town,” she declared. “This town is known as an ancient town, but if we can have lots of persons coming onboard and promoting not only football, but other disciplines…

“It is also said that this town is a dead town, so I am happy that Antics and the Candy Shop and all the others can come to remove the ‘dead’ from the town and cause it to be a live town,” the Mayor said.