Two matches are carded in the John Fernandes second-division men’s hockey competition on Friday at the Demerara Cricket Club ground in Queenstown.
In the scheduled matches, Western Dragons of West Demerara and Carib Degenerates will square off in the first game while the other encounter will see Old Fort taking on GCC.
The tournament got off to a start last Friday with Hikers and Old Fort playing to a 2-2 draw while on Monday, Old Fort and GCC battled to a 1-1 draw.
In Monday’s encounter GCC began the match at a hot pace pushing the young Hikers on their heels in the opening minutes.
Shad Fernandes and Stuart Gonsalves controlled the midfield for GCC but their strikers failed on each occasion on the final pass through the defensive pressure of speedy newcomer Colonel Heywood and the rest of the Hikers defence.
The late arrival of veteran Randy Hope restored some balance to the game but it was GCC who struck first in the 24th minute as a diving effort by Leonard George was saved only for the rebound to be slammed home by right wing Eric Hing.
Just as the match seemed to be headed for a GCC victory, the Hikers pulled one back through a powerful penalty corner strike by Hope in the 53rd minute.
Hikers seemed rejuvenated by their goal and stepped up the pressure on GCC with Robert France producing some fine runs down the right flank creating several chances which was poorly supported by his teammates who failed to latch onto his passes across the GCC goalmouth.
In the opening match of the tournament at DCC ground, Old Fort and the Hikers played to a similar 1-1 clash which saw Hope again equalising in the dying minutes for the Hikers.
Old Fort began the game tentatively as the Hikers pressed for a goal in the early minutes.
Old Fort however created several counterattacking moves which paid off in the 20th minute when newcomer Kevin Melville found the back of the Hikers net.
As Old Fort grew in confidence the Hikers would be hard-pressed to draw even but managed to do so through Hope in the dying minutes.
Hikers lead the table of the two-round competition with two points followed by Old Fort and GCC with one point each from one match each.
The tournament consists of two round-robin rounds where teams earn three points for a win and one point for a draw.
At the end of the two rounds, that team with the most points will be declared the winner.
