Georgetown Cricket Club (GCC) men’s `A’ team surged ahead in the points standing with their ‘B’ side in hot pursuit after the third night of action in the Guyana Hockey Board’s warm up six-a-side indoor tournament at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.
In a battle for top position, GCC ‘A’ held off a strong challenge from their ‘B’ side to win 4-1 after the junior Bourda side had drawn first blood and held off their senior counterparts for all but five minutes of the encounter.
Raphael DeGroot struck for the `B’ side before Dwayne Scott, Alan Fernandes, Peter DeGroot and Kevin Spencer scored for the victors.
Everest ‘A’ featuring a reduced strength side with the notable absence of nationals Timothy McIntosh and Alex Gouveia, still made light work of their ‘B’ team with a 12-6 victory. Randy Hope led the scorers with five goals for Everest ‘A’ while Azad DeAbreu with three, Devin Munroe, two and Jerry Bell and Robert France chipped in with one goal each.
Andrew Stuart scored a hat-trick for the `B’ team with Shaquille Assanah, Leroy Brown and Renrik Evelyn scoring one each.
Aderemi Simon led the scorers as he poured in four goals for Old Fort ‘A’ in their resounding 11-0 victory over their ‘B’ side. Adrian Brandt added a hat-trick, Robert Hussein a double and Chris Low-Koan and John Abraham one each.
Police and the Carib Degenerates played to a 0-0 draw in the other men’s match up.
In the lone ladies’ match of the evening, the GCC Tigers made an emphatic statement in their opening game by defeating their junior counterparts the Spartans 5-0.
Tiffany Solomon was first to score through a penalty corner in the seventh minute and Shebiki Baptiste and Brennette Gordon added one each from the field before the half expired.
The Spartans had a few opportunities to score which were foiled by Natalie Hing in goal, but the game sat comfortably in the hands of the Tigers throughout the duration and captain Sonia Jardine sealed the deal with a double in the second half to take the team’s tally to five.
GCC ‘A’ has wrested the men’s points lead from clubmates GCC ‘B’ with nine points from three matches, while Everest ‘A’ sits in second position with seven points from three matches and GCC ‘B’ relegated to third with their first loss of the tournament and on seven points from four matches. Old Fort ‘A’ are on six points from three matches, Carib Degenerates four, Western Dragons three, Police one while Everest ‘B’ and Old Fort ‘B’ remain without points.
In the ladies’ competition the GCC Tigers and Everest Hikers are tied on three points each while the GCC Spartans have failed to secure any points.
The competition continues this evening and Saturday with the finals in the men and women’s competition set for Sunday at the Sports Hall.