The fourth edition of the Namilco Football Festival kicked off Saturday night at the Tucville Playfield with Santos and Victoria Kings football clubs becoming the first two teams to progress to the next round.
In the curtain raiser of the double header fixture, Victoria Kings battled a long, tough encounter against Monedderlust before finally emerging with a 3 – 2 triumph following extra time.
In the feature match Santos gained a 2 – 1 victory over Pele Football Club.
The competition continues on Wednesday at the same venue with Buxton United facing defending champions Sunburst Camptown in the opening match.
In the feature clash, the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) will meet Bakewell Buxton Stars. Saturday’s feature game saw Santos outplaying Pele with former Pele forward Gerald Whittington leading the Santos side with a double.
Santos scored first when Whittington caught the Pele custodian off his mark and sent a long shot from the left flank that found the back of the net near the last post in the eighth minute.
However, Pele was able to equalize two minutes later when Marvin Joseph shook the Santos defence, drew the goalkeeper out, then sent a flat hard shot towards goal which easily found the back of the net.
Pele enjoyed superior ball possession and developed more attacking plays but their finishing was poor.
Santos, on the other hand, made the most of their few opportunities, regaining the lead through Whittington in the 35th minute.
The second half saw Pele playing under pressure in search of the equalizer while Santos played tight football to cut down on open spaces and block out the Pele attacks.
The curtain raiser of the evening saw Monedderlust scoring as early as the second minute compliments of Alwin McDonald. He went on to record a brace in the 60th minute, which goal sent the game into extra time. Aubrey Gibson had equalised for Victoria Kings in the 28th minute while Robert Souza sent his team ahead with a 50th minute strike. In extra time, the game shifted to the Kings’ side when McDonald completed his brace with just three minutes in the second half of extra time remaining; a situation that Monedderlust could not recover from.
Prior to those two games Grove Hi-Tec lost 0-2 to New Amsterdam who will now face Rosignol United on Friday in the curtain raiser of the double header that will see hosts Fruta Conquerors playing Seawall United.
