Hikers Cadets crushed Old Fort by 8-4 margin in their first division matchup when action in the Guyana Hockey Board (GHB)/Guyana Telephone and Telegraph (GT&T) National Indoor Hockey Championships continued at the National Gymnasium on Tuesday.
Aroydy Branford opened the scoring for the Cadets in the 11th minute from a penalty corner shot to the top left hand corner. Dwight McCalman would level the scores four minutes later, powering home his effort from the centre of the arc to the bottom left hand corner
Old Fort would take the lead one minute later through an Aderemi Simon strike to the left hand corner after cutting in from the right side of the field.
The Cadets would quickly answer back as Leon Bacchus found etched his name on the scorer’s sheet with a cheeky deflected finish just outside the right post after collecting a beautiful pass from Branford at the top of the arc following a penalty corner.
Michael Harding then made it 4-2, thumping home a right sided strike to the top left hand corner in the 19th minute. Bacchus would bag his brace in the final seconds of the first half in the 20th minute, slotting home in front of the goal after collecting a left sided Harding pass.
Following the resumption of action in the second stanza, Bacchus would complete his hat trick in the 23rd minute with a flat strike to the lower right hand corner.
Old Fort would refuse to goal down with out a fight as were rewarded as Askofu Simon netted in the 26th minute, driving his powerfully struck shot to the left hand corner after stealing the ball from Harding on the right side of the defensive third.
Seon Sookhai would add to the Cadet tally in the 27th minute, capitalizing on a botched attempted clearance by custodian Toney Cole to easily finish down the middle of the goal.
Old Fort would pull within two as Dwight Sullivan netted one minute later with a powerful finish to the lower left hand corner.
A reverse strike after cutting into the left side of the arc by Jamarj Assanah to the lower right hand corner in the 34th minute would push Cadets further into the lead at 7-4. Assanah would seal the win three minutes later, netting to an open goal from the right side of the arc. In other results, GCC led by a helmet trick from Phillip Fernandes in the 12th, 15th, 17th and 18th minutes overcame Old Fort 6-3. Damon Woodroffe and Alan Fernandes scored in the win in the 26th and 28th minutes respectively.
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 ninth and 21st minutes was Hilton Chester whilst Kwesi Lewis and Joel Hunte recorded solo strikes in the 12th and 30th minutes respectively.
On target for the losers were Dwayne Alleyne, Shameer Hussein and John Abrams in the 23rd, 24th and 25th 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.
