By Duncan Saul Photos by Orlando Charles
Defending National and Georgetown champs Queen Street Tigerbay were eliminated from Guinness Greatest of the Streets, losing to North Ruimveldt 2-1 on penalty kicks in a wild night that saw two teams thrown out for bad behaviour.
Beginning the shoot-out at the National Cultural Centre Tarmac after normal time ended 0-0, Travis Grant would convert from the halfway mark to transfer the pressure on the defending champions.
The resulting pressure would get the better of the title holders as Godfrey Powers missed their first attempt at the distance to surrender a 1-0 lead.
North Ruimveldt would then maintain their one-goal advantage in the second round of the shoot-out as both sides netted from the mark, with Joshua Brown scoring for the challengers and Jeffrey Newton converting for the champions.
With only a conversion needed to seal the win in the third and final round, North Ruimveldt would hand Queen Street Tigerbay a lifeline as Gerald Gittens failed to hit the target.
With their title hopes hanging in the balance and the crowd behind him in expectation, Keoma Gravesande would fail to deliver as he directed his attempt wide of the mark, to seal the champs’ exit from the event.
As a result of the win, North Ruimveldt finish the group stage on six points from three games while Queen Street Tigerbay ended on three points from three matches.
Prior to the elimination of the defending champs, the fourth matchup between North East La Penitence and Broad Street Bullies was abandoned due to unsportsmanlike conduct from both sides.
At the time of the abandonment in the 18th minute, the score line was 1-0 in the favour of North East La Penitence, compliments of a Shaquille Grant fifth minute conversion.
The bad behaviour arose following the uncertainty surrounding which team should be in possession of the ball after it had gone out of play. This resulted in players jostling for ownership of the ball, which in turn developed into a shoving match and unfortunately, into a full blown melee.
However the resulting fracas which included both benches of the teams, was quickly broken up by the surrounding police officers and both teams were eventually eliminated by the organizers from the event, despite already qualifying for the knockout stages before the fixture’s start.
Due to the double disqualification, the best two third place finishers from the group stage will take their places in the knockout round.
In the final fixture of the night, Stevedore Housing Scheme squeaked past Albouystown-B by a 1-0 margin through a Leon Murray 13th minute strike. Due to the victory, Stevedore Housing Scheme have concluded their campaign on three points from three games.
Despite the loss, Albouystown-B qualified for the knockout round with six points from three matches. Sparta Boss completed a perfect group stage campaign as they came from behind to defeat Castello Housing Scheme 2-1 in the seventh fixture.
Sheldon Shepherd and Cleon Forrester were on target for the winners in the ninth and 12th minutes respectively. Meanwhile giving the eventual losers the initial lead in the sixth minute was Sherman Anthony.
Festival City Street Fighters sealed their progression to the knockout round as they defeated Bent Street 2-0 on penalty kicks after normal time finished 0-0 in the fifth matchup.
In other results, Leopold Street defeated South Sophia 1-0 while Cross Street overcame Charlestown 3-2 on sudden death kicks after normal time finished 2-2. In the opening matchup of the night, South Ruimveldt defeated Riverview 2-0 via walkover.
