Guyana Defence Force (GDF) and Santos scored contrasting victories in the latest round of matches in the 2012 NAMILCO (National Milling Company) Football Festival at the Tucville ground on Wednesday evening.
Watched by a fair-sized crowd at the community venue
GDF hammered Black Pearl 4-0 and Santos toppled Police 3-1 in the one-sided encounters.
These wins mean that GDF and Santos will join Sunburst Camptown and Beacon United in advancing to the quarter-final stage of the competition.
In the opening match, the army side proved too powerful for Black Pearl United as they raced to a three-goal lead in the opening half, with goals in the 8th, 26th and 28th minutes from Delwin Fraser, Steven Dolphin and Eusi Phillips respectively.
The pace of the game slowed down in the second half, but GDF launched their final strike in the 78th minute from Sherwyn Caesar, closing off an emphatic victory to put them in sight of the top prize of $1 million and the NAMILCO trophy.
In the evening’s second encounter, the seasoned Santos FC United proved too strong for Police as they triumphed 3-1 in a lopsided affair.
Santos opened the scoring in the 10th minute when a sharp left-wing cross into the box was headed home by Michael Pedro, then in the 24th minute a seemingly harmless long-ball over the top was defended poorly by Police and Gerald Whittington was on hand to latch home the second goal.
Almost immediately Police got a lifeline when Rondell Archer pulled one back and made it 2-1 with his goal in the 25th minute.
Ryan Seals sent Camptown into the interval with a 3-1 advantage when he scored in the 44th minute.
A lack of clinical finishing was the story of the second half for both sides, as great goal scoring opportunities were squandered. Santos especially was the guilty one and could have easily won by a larger margin.
The tournament continues tomorrow evening with another double header card at the same venue.
Riddim Squad will square off with Houston All-Stars at 18:00 hours, before Alpha United Force and Banks All Stars face off at 20:00 hours.
