Unbeaten Grove lift inaugural title

Diamond United and Agricola Red Triangle closed off their GFF/NAMILCO Thunderbolt Flour Power National Under-17 Intra Association League /East Bank Football Association leg on a high on Saturday when the competition ended at the Grove Playfield.
Diamond United took full points from Mocha Champs which failed to show up while Agricola came back from a goal down against Friendship to win 2-1. Yesterday’s play brought an end to two-rounds of grinding action between nine (9) clubs in the association, the league got underway since June of last year.

Emerging as the overall winner after 16-matches each was Grove Hi Tech which ended as the only undefeated club with 48-points; scoring a total of 45-goals while only conceding 5 to end with a +40 average.
Yesterday, Friendship jumped ahead of Agricola in the 10th minute through a Denver Stoll goal but Agricola bided their time and drew level on 40 minutes when Adrian Reid netted the first of his double to lead them to full points with their seventh win of the league. The winning goal was scored in the 55th minute by Reid.
Finance Director of the National Milling Company of Guyana (NAMILCO) Mr. Fitzroy Mc Leod was on hand to distribute the trophies and medals to the top four clubs. In remarks to the players, Mc Leod first congratulated the players for staying the course in a competition that commenced last year.
He noted that his company was more than happy to partner with the Guyana Football Federation in providing an avenue through the associations for players to exhibit and develop their skills on a consistent basis reminding that the competition will be played over a five-year period with NAMILCO investing over Five-Million dollars.
Mc Leod encouraged the players to always seek to work hard not only on the field of play but to also place a high premium on their academic pursuits so as to be the best they can be whilst keeping an eye on making it at the national age-group levels also.
EBFA President Franklin Wilson conveyed the association’s gratitude to NAMILCO and the GFF for making a tournament of this nature reality whilst also commending the players, parents, coaches, club administrators, fans and referees making their respective contributions which all added up to make the league a success.
The clubs were all commended for their continued investment in ensuring that players attended matches on a consistent basis despite some not being able to due to various reasons from time to time.
Highway United (Yarrowkabra) and Kuru Kururu Warriors, both based on the Linden Soesdyke Highway ended the league in second and third place with Diamond United taking fourth followed by Agricola, Herstelling, Soesdyke Falcons, Mocha Champs and Friendship following in that order.
Finishing as the leading goal scorer was Kuru Kururu Warriors’ Jonathan Bailey with 9 followed by Shawn Steele (Highway United) and Kevin Padmore (Grove Hi Tech) 7 apiece.
With the conclusion of the Under-17, the EBFA will continue with the Ralph Green sponsored Under-11 while the Frank Watson Under-15 Intra Association League would kick off shortly. Clubs are reminded to complete their registration by next Friday.