By Calvin Roberts
A helmet trick of goals in 18 minutes from “Golden Jaguars’ Anthony ‘Awo’ Abrams guided tournament host Alpha ‘The Hammer’ United to a 7-1 hammering of Rosignol United, while Pele Football Club inflicted a one nil defeat on Topp XX as quarterfinal action in the Alpha United Carifesta football fiesta continued at the Georgetown Football Club (GFC) ground Thursday night.
In the first game of the double header feature played under soggy conditions, Rosignol who can consider themselves unlucky as they were all over their opponents in the first 10 minutes of the game when a Cornell Taylor’s header from a Olvis Mitchell cross went wide.
That was the move that woke up the tournament host, as they commenced several raids on their opponent’s goal that saw them racing to a four-nil lead in the next 25 minutes.
Abrams who was never given any room to display his goal-scoring ability before, received a gem of a pass from Leon Grumble who was having a marvelous night in the midfield position for Alpha, and after out-dribbling his marker, he rounded the ball past an advancing Newt Mahaica in the 17th minute.
Three minutes later and it was 2-0 when Abrams sent a scorcher past Mahaica from midway in the opposing half and a solo run from another Grumble pass two minutes later made it 3-0 in favour of Alpha.
Being three goals down at that stage would leave some teams dejected, but Rosignol displayed a never-say-die attitude and with the hard working Mitchell and brothers Delwin and Delroy Fraser making several raids on their opponent’s goal area, custodian Ronson Williams had to call on all his experience to keep them at bay.
As Rosignol continued to show a fighting spirit at the top, their defence led by Garson Baker, Michael Amsterdam, Dwayne Campbell and Cornell Taylor had to be working overtime to keep Abrams, Elton Browne, Andrew Murray Jnr. and at times Shawn Bishop at bay.
But as they say, all good things must come to an end, and that is what it was in the 35th minute when Abrams found the back of the net from another Grumble cross when he was in an unmarked position at the top of the six-yard box.
Rosignol were fortunate to pull one back on the stroke of half time, when Delroy Fraser ran onto a through ball from his brother Delwin, and with Williams advancing off his line, fortune struck for Rosignol as the ball was slowed in one of the many poodles of water on the field. Fraser remained composed to round Williams and he calmly placed the ball into an open goal.
When play resumed in the second half, it would have appeared to those who came late that Alpha were trailing their opponents 1-4 instead of the other way around as they were on the attack from the opening whistle.
Browne went into this game lacking a strong finishing touch and this was evident when he missed four opportunities in five minutes. But he laid all fears to rest when he placed one at the back of the net 10 minutes after the resumption of play.
Bishop then got into the goal-scoring act five minutes later, when he found the back of the net following several missed opportunities from his teammates, including the unfortunate Browne, to send Alpha up 6-1.
Wendell St. Hill then placed the final nail in Rosignol’s coffin when he worked the ball all the way from inside his own half, out sprinted Baker and beat an advancing Mahaica.
Even though they put up a fight, Rosignol found it hard to get back into the game as the Hammer head remained firm and intact, preventing this up to the final whistle.
The feature game between Pele and Topp XX had its ups and downs, and to the joy of Pele’s supporters and the dismay of the mining town’s team, O’Kenny Fraser drilled one past Carlos Browne in the third minute of the game.
Even though they held a lead, Pele still continued to attack their opponent’s goal area with Fraser and former national under-17 Linden Simmons with support from Travis ‘Zorro’ Grant, Troy Kellman and Devon Edinboro.
Fraser forced Browne to pull off another save when he sent a rocket-like shot to goal after receiving a pass from Simmons, but even though a seesaw battle ensued after the goal, at the half way mark the score line read one nil in favour of Pele.
The second half was a turn in the tide with Pele’s defence led by Dirk Archer with support from Marvin Liverpool and Keome Gravesande being forced to work overtime to stave off the attacks of Marlon Benjamin, Shevone Seaforth, Kirk Murphy and Romaine Haynes.
The latter had the opportunity to get the equalizer for his team, but his shot rebounded off of Shemroy Arthur’s chest and was cleared by Archer who like his father, former national captain Terrence Archer, was a stalwart in Pele’s defence.
Benjamin also had an opportunity to draw the scores level when he created space and made a move to goal, but the ensuing shot went over the bar without creating alarm for Arthur.
A few minutes later and it was Benjamin and Arthur again, but this time he struck the uprights as Topp XX searched valiantly for the equalizer.
But the valiant efforts of Topp XX were in vain at the sound of the final whistle which signaled their exit from the $2.2M tournament.