Tucburg Park survived a scare to reach the semifinal of the Christmas 8-a-side inter-ward tournament on Friday evening at the All Saints Ground on Princess Elizabeth Road, New Amsterdam, Region Six (East Berbice/Corentyne) beating Vryheid 4-2 in the feature game of the double header.
Tucburg Park team will be looking for another victory for championship honours after a close semifinal
After finishing the first half one goal down due to a defence error, Tucburg Park found themselves trailing two 2-nil in the 41 minute. However, they bounced back with two goals within the next five minutes to realize an even score line.
Four minutes later, Tucburg went ahead as Vryheid failed to capitalise on their initial advantage. From the start of the game, Tucburg seemed the better of the two teams and squandered three goal-scoring opportunities in the first thirty minutes of play.
The opening goal came in dramatic fashion when Vryheid had been lurking in Tucburg’s half of the field when a corner sent in the box in the middle of the two uprights brought panic in Tucburg’s camp and goalkeeper Terrence Loo could not hold on to the ball when it was deflected in.
Meanwhile, the issue was sealed three minutes before referee Heathcliff Peters blew the final whistle with Tucburg enjoying a 4-2 lead.
Earlier, Canje got past Manchester on sudden-death penalty after the two teams had played to a 1-1 score line at the end of regulation time. It took seven shots by each team to decide the winner after the regulated five penalty shots finished at a 4-4 deadlock.
The tournament continues on Friday evening at the same venue with semifinal action. In the first game Vryman’s Ervin and Canje will meet at 20:00h. The feature game will bring together arch rivals Tucburg Park and Stanleytown.
