lpha ‘The Hammer’ United easily sailed over their final hurdle in the NAMILCO Football Festival Tournament to claim top honours on Friday night at the Tucville Playfield.
The team is now $500,000 richer after trouncing Santos 3 – 0 in the feature event of the double header card which saw hosts Fruta Conquerors inflicting a 6-0 thrashing on Sunburst Camptown in the third place showdown earlier in the night.
Shawn Bishop, who finished the tournament as the highest goal scorer with six goals, was the hero of the night for Alpha.
Bishop scored a double to propel his team to victory.
Bishop’s team mate Anthony ‘Awo’ Abrams, drew first blood against Santos as early as the 10th minute. Santos remained down a goal for the remainder of the first half before Alpha’s lead doubled when Bishop recorded his first goal in the 61st minute.
The Santos team gave a good account of itself but Alpha was the superior force in the areas of speed, consistency and strength.
Bishop put the nail in the coffin in the 90th minute when Santos slacked off a bit and was playing a bit casual since injuries and stoppages time had already been signaled and they were still two goals down.
Earlier, Camptown stumbled to a humiliating defeat that began with Vernon Mills netting in the 14th minute. Camptown then found themselves down by two goals when Dwayne Lawrence scored at the stroke of half-time.
As the match up continued goals began to come easier for the host team; Pernell Schultz found the back of the net two minutes into the second half then Lawrence and Mills both completed a brace in the 51st and 62nd minutes respectively.
Keifa Adams put the issue way beyond doubt with his 90th-minute strike that took Conquerors’ goal tally to six before the regulation time whistle.
Santos was the recipient of the $200,000 runner-up prize while Conquerors and Camptown carted off $100,000 and $50,000 respectively.
Pernell Schultz and Chris Camacho were named as the two most promising young players, Bishop – the most valuable player (MVP) and Ronson Williams – the most outstanding goalkeeper.
