East Coast Football Association (ECFA) clubs Victoria Kings and Ann’s Grove sealed their respective berth to the semi-final round of the Starlite Generation/ Monedderlust FC 2nd annual Berbice Cup knockout tourney on Saturday.
Played at the Monedderlust FC ground, No. #5 Village, West Coast Berbice, Victoria Kings got the better of Berbice’s New Amsterdam United 3-1 while Ann’s Grove pummeled fellow ECFA unit Golden Grove 5-1.
The two teams will now faceoff in the semi-final on Saturday at the same venue.
The second semi-final will be between defending champs Monedderlust FC and Cougars FC.
In the opening encounter, Aubrey Gibson gave Victoria Kings the early advantage as he broke the deadlock compliments of a 28th minute strike following a one-on-one situation with the opposing custodian.
Another one-on-one situation with the Berbice shot-stopper would lead to the ECFA heavyweights doubling their lead 10 minutes later as strike partner Winston Pompey etched his name on the scorer’s sheet.
The struggle would continue for the Berbice unit as they conceded once more with Seon Robinson finding the back of the net in the 44th minute to give Victoria Kings a 3-0 advantage.
Unable to find the back of the net following the commencement of the second period, Victoria Kings would be reduced to 10 men as Sherlock Dowden picked up his second bookable offence in the 70th minute.
New Amsterdam United would eventually capitalize on their numerical advantage as Adrian Adams netted through a 90th+4 minute conversion. In the second match of the evening, Kevon Barry gave Ann’s Grove the early lead, netting in the 11th minute.
Kevin Bailey would then increase the lead as he scored 15 minutes later. Ann’s Grove’s advantage increased when Dean Rodgers found the back of the net in the 31st minute.
With the scores unchanged following the end of the first half, Golden Grove would pull one back in the 63rd minute through a Randy Stoby effort. However, that would be the closest Golden Grove would come to overturning the score line as Nkosi Denny made it 4-1 in the 73rd minute.
Shemar Barry would then seal the regulation win and semi-final berth for his side as he netted in the 90th+3 minute. Winners of the event will pocket $400,000 and the championship trophy while the runners-up will collect $300,000 and the respective title.
The third and fourth place finishers will walk away with $200,000 and $100,000 respectively. On the individual side, prizes will be awarded for the event’s most valuable players, top goal scorer, best defender and the best goalkeeper.
