Quame La Fleur scored a stunner in the final of the Georgetown Football Association (GFA)/ Banks Premium Beer Knockout Competition against the Guyana Defence Force (GDF), to lead Sunburst Camptown to the title on Sunday at the Tucville playfield.
A slim 1 – 0 lead was all Camptown needed to defeat the mighty army team in the final while Fruta Conquerors and Alpha United battled to a nail biting finish which ended 3–1 on penalty kicks in Alpha’s favour after being deadlocked at 2–2 at the end of full and extra time.
Camptown have now marked their names in the record books as the second championship team in the tourney after Pele Football Club who were eliminated from the tournament in the quarter-final round by GDF, won the inaugural championship last year.
The Sunburst Camptown team who has made it to either the final or third place showdowns in the past few concluded tournaments and failed to deliver, finally pressed on to claim their first tournament win since the Carib Sweet Sixteen last year. “We’ve had a hurdle to cross in terms of putting out our best when it came down to these big games and handling the pressure. But I think we have learnt from being there so many times and it finally paid off,” stated Troy Mendonca
The team now enters the Mackeson/Digicel sponsored Sweet Sixteen which begins today as the defending champions and with some confidence under their belt.
According to Mendonca, “This is a young team and we still have to develop our game in a lot of areas so we will have to break down what we have and start from scratch.”
He added, “We played a tactical game because we were no match for them physically. We tried to kill their momentum so it would obstruct their play because once they get into a rhythm they are a hard team to defeat.”
The game showed that the GDF players were physically bigger and stronger than most of the Camptown players but their speed and skill were matched which made it a close game on the evening of reckoning.
Camptown in the opening minutes of the game had a few shots after getting past the opposition’s defensive line but the GDF team tightened up and began trading shot for shot as both teams had almost equal possession of the ball throughout the first half.
The second half resumed without either team being able to score then La Fleur got a ball and broke away from the defenders with it to face custodian Akel Clarke and he got past him successfully in the 60th minute to give Camptown the lead.
Winding down to regulation time GDF who were eager to find an equalizer rushed down on the Camptown team who began to look clustered in the field. Keeper Richie Richardson played a huge role in partially breaking down GDF’s attack when the Camptown defence began to wither in the closing moments to deny the opposition a chance of equalizing. In the Alpha/Conquerors clash Elton Browne’s 12th minute goal rocked the score line in Alpha’s favour and Fruta answered with a play developed from a low hard corner kick taken by Manessiah Primo in the 32nd minute.
The ball found Jolyon Harry just outside the 18-yard box and he powered it past Shawn Johnson in the Alpha uprights. Alpha then suffered a misfortune, when a free kick taken by the opposition reached into the 18-yard box and went through Johnson’s hands before rebounding off a defender and making its way to the unmarked Devon Forde who sent it to the back of the net with a firm header. They however were able to find the equalizer that took them into extra time, when a penalty kick was given against Fruta after a dangerous play was committed against an Alpha player inside the 18-yard box.
The kick was taken by Howard Lowe in the 49th minute and was directed past Oswald Cornette to the top right of the goal. Neither team was able to score in extra time which forced the game into a dreaded penalty shootout where Fruta took first strike. Harry and Fitzroy Witherspoon missed their attempts and Trevon Lythcott was denied by Johnson while all of Alpha’s players scored their attempts.
