The Georgetown Cricket Club (GCC) overcame Old Fort 6-3 in their veterans divisional fixture when the Guyana Hockey Board (GHB)/Guyana Telephone and Telegraph (GT&T) National Indoor Hockey Championships continued at the National Gymnasium on Tuesday with president of the Guyana Hockey Board Philip Fernandes netting a helmet-trick.
Opting to play without a goalkeeper, Old Fort fell behind in the 12th minute as Fernandes slotted the ball into an empty net after stealing the ball from the last defender Shameer Hussein.
Fernandes would double GCC’s lead three minutes later from a penalty corner strike to the roof of the goal. The GHB President would complete his hat trick two minutes into the second half with a strike from a penalty corner to the top left hand side in the 17th minute.
The helmet trick would be completed one minute later through a simple tap into an empty net after fernandes collected a pass on the left side of the field.
Staring down a 4-0 deficit, Old Fort would pull one back in the 23rd minute through a Dwayne Alleyne shot to the bottom left hand corner from the right side after he received a pass from former national player Ivor Thompson inside the middle of the arc.
Hussein would make amends for his earlier mistake, stabbing home to the bottom left hand side one minute later after pouncing on a rebounded save in the middle of the area from the GCC keeper.
The deficit would be further reduced in the 25th minute as John Abrams added his name to the scorer’s sheet, slotting home from the left side of the area to the bottom right hand corner.
GCC’s Damon Woodroffe would put further daylight between the two sides, netting in the 26th minute to the left hand corner from the right side following a squared pass from Fernandes on the same side.
Alan Fernandes would seal the result three minutes late, finding the back of the net with a strike to the bottom left hand side.
In the first division, Hikers Cadets, led by a hat trick from Leon Bacchus in the 17th, 20th and 23rd minutes and a Jamarj Assanah double in the 34th and 37th minutes humbled Old Fort 8-4.
Aroydy Branford, Michael Harding and Seon Sookhai completed the win with goals in the 11th, 19th and 27th minutes respectively. Netting for the losers were Dwight McCalman, Aderemi Simon, Askofu Simon and Dwight Sullivan in the 15th, 16th, 26th and 28th minutes respectively.
GCC Tigers defeated arch rivals Hikers Divas 3-1 in the women’ divisional showdown. Kerensa Fernandes, Trisha Woodroffe and Sonia Jardine were on target for GCC in the third, seventh and 25th minutes respectively while Cora Towler scored for the Divas in the 29th minute.
Continuing in the same division, GCC Spartans led by an Aaliyah Gordon six goal spree in the 11th, 19th, 24th, 25th, 26th, 29th minutes and a Samantha Fernandes helmet trick in the second, fifth, eighth and 30th minutes slaughtered Old Fort Heats 15-0.
Finding the back of the net in the huge win was Carol Caine with a hat trick in the seventh, 10th and 23rd minutes while Ashley DeGroot and Gabriella Xavier registered solo strikes in the 17th and 22nd minutes correspondingly.
A Steven Xavier hat trick in the seventh, 15th and 27th minutes propelled GCC to a 4-2 victory over Saints in their second division fixture. Eric Hing, Andrew Xavier and Mark Sergeant completed the win with goals in the eighth, 28th and 30th minutes respectively.
Leading the Saints side with a double in the ninth and 21st minutes was Hilton Chester whilst Kwesi Lewis and Joel Hunte recorded solo strikes in the 12th and 30th minutes respectively.
