-Camptown also reaches last four
By Kizan Brumell
A goal fiesta between New Amsterdam United and Victoria Kings ended in penalty kicks shoot-out victory for the Berbice side while Sunburst Camptown also moved on to the semi-final round of the Fruta Conquerors organized NAMILCO Football Festival at the Tucville Playfield on Wednesday night.
Tonight, the Georgetown Football Club (GFC) and BK International Western Tigers will clash in the opening battle at 6pm while Santos will meet the Guyana Defence Force in the feature showdown at 8pm.
On Wednesday night, the match between N/A United and Victoria Kings was finally decided 3 – 2 on penalty kicks after the teams were deadlocked 6 – 6 at the end of regulation and extra time.
Adrian Adams and Kelvin Joseph recorded hat-tricks for N/A while Winston Pompey led the way for Victoria Kings with a helmet trick. Pierre Joseph scored the other two goals.
N/A took an early lead when Adams found the back of the net in the second minute.
However Victoria Kings with two good runs took the lead through goals from Pompey and Pierre as the first half ended with Kings in a possession of a one goal lead.
N/A United began the second half like a house on fire slamming in four unanswered goals in 25 minutes as the regained the lead.
Kelvin Joseph recorded his hat-trick scoring in the 49th, 62nd and 69th minutes. In between Adams scored his second goal of the match in the 57th minute.
Like true Kings, however, Victoria was not prepared to give up without a fight and they leveled the score 5-5 through Pompey who scored in the 66th and 79th minutes and Pierre Joseph who completed his double in the 82nd minute.
Pompey gave Kings the lead in extra time when he scored in the third minute of the first half.
However, Adams neutralized that goal with one of his own in the 12th minute which sent the game into a dreaded penalty shootout.
Nerves were tested to the fullest as the decision came down to the fifth and final kick with both teams tied on two goals each and while N/A sank their own, Victoria Kings missed their attempt which gave the Berbice team the victory.
The other match was decided by a lone goal with Camptown needling Riddim Squad to move onto the semi-final of the tournament after a hard fought match.
The match went down to extra time where the decider was scored by Camptown. Neither team was able to score within the first 90 minutes although both teams got good opportunities to go ahead.
Lance Rawlston broke the deadlock in the 12th minute of extra time with a terrific header at close range in front of the opposition’s goal to put Camptown in the lead for good.