Pouderoyen suffer forceful detention at the hands of Police

By Jemima Holmes

The Guyana Police Force Football Club overcame their shortcomings manifested in last year’s staging of the Limacol Knockout Football tournament to finally cop the top prize on Friday evening in a thrilling encounter with Pouderoyen FC.
After the official greeting party, wherein both teams interacted with Limacol’s Marketing Manager Elizabeth Ram and Petra’s Co-Director Troy Mendonca, the fast-paced match got underway.

The Police team took to the playing field clad in white like a bunch of avenging angels, while Pouderoyen forsook their usual green and opted for an ‘all black’ attire as if they were attending a funeral; little did they know it was their own.
On the hunt from the first whistle, Pouderoyen were obviously looking to draw first blood. They were, however, arrested in the 12th minute by the on-duty policemen, whose early goal signalled a coherent game plan being purposefully and resolutely executed with a passion to win.
Thereafter, the officers detained Pouderoyen and restricted them from scoring, or even getting close to the box.
Like a dive bomber with the target perfectly in sight, Anthio Wallace swooped down to score his second goal of the game in the 32nd minute.
After half an hour of unsuccessful play, the Pouderoyen response was swift and decisive when Alex Andrews caught the Police goal-keeper slacking in the 34th minute.

The drought that followed this Pouderoyen breakthrough – induced by the Police use of special weapons and tactics – spawned a Pouderoyen frustration that showed in their mode of play.
Any thought the West Side team had of equalising was further diminished when Anthio Wallace again swooped down to deliver his third bomb in the 60th minute. Twenty minutes later, the Police lead was further extended by Dexroy Adams with a self-assured rocket fired from just outside the box.
Pouderoyen were granted another chance at making the game competitive when a few minutes of stoppage time were added to the life of the game. Within those minutes, the West Side team managed to capitalise on a foul, netting a penalty to take their score to two. However, it was not enough to catch-up with the Police, who were already soaring to their championship title with a 4-2 victory being inevitable.
Despite having doubts after the semifinal, Coach Dwayne Bobb was pleased with the performance of his possee of lawmen.
“From semifinals we didn’t have such a good game, and we went back to the drawing board. We went back home and worked, and they played much better tonight,” the coach stated.
After their shaky semifinal on Sunday evening, the coach had stated that one player does not make a team. Acknowledging Anthio Wallace’s game winning hat-trick, the coach took the opportunity to modify his statement.
“One player indeed can make a difference in a team, but it takes the rest of the players to work in tandem so that we could come out victorious,” he acknowledged.

Not only did the law enforcers confiscate the $600,000 cash first prize on offer, but their striker Anthio Wallace was adjudged the MVP of the tournament. Noting that he was pleased with the accolade, Wallace revealed that he was happy foremost with the Police win.
“First of all, I must give God Almighty thanks. I thought we played a compact game and (the win) was well deserved. It was a nice feeling, scoring those goals and Police winning again; it was a great feeling,” he stated.
The third place clash between Riddim Squad and Santos was equally entertaining. Kicking off at 19:00 hrs before the grand finale, both teams were unwavering in their pursuit of the next best thing, the third place win.
The thrills began just five minutes into the game, when Sherwin Hope netted an own goal to put Santos up by one. After playing relentlessly to correct their teammate’s error, James Bowman found the answer in the 44th to equalise the scores.
With the game plunging into extra time, both teams had another chance to make it their own. A goal from Kevin Gordon in 90+22’ saw Riddim Squad emerging with a 2-1 victory over Santos.
In special awards, Manasseh Primo was awarded for his tally of 6 goals, making him the highest goal scorer of the 2018 season; whilst the Police goalkeeper was hailed as the best of the lot.