Western Tigers punched their ticket to the knockout round, overcoming a Trayon Bobb-inspired Georgetown Football Club (GFC) 3-0 in their second group fixture when the Georgetown Football Association/Banks Beer Cup continued on Saturday.
Marvin Jospeh, Shemar Wilson and Lorenzo Dewsbury separated the two outfits at the Tucville Community Ground with second-half goals in the 52nd, 89th and 90th+3 minutes correspondingly.
Due the win, Western Tigers move to six points from two games and will face off with Fruta Conquerors in their final group fixture. Meanwhile, GFC remain on one point from two games. They will lock horns with Houston Stars in their must-win final fixture.
Stationed on the left side of the flank, Bobb would immediately make his presence felt in the fifth minute for his new suitors, cutting into the area after skipping past his marker to unleash a powerful right-footed effort that crashed into the right upright, leaving custodian Derick Carter rooted to the spot.
Daren Benjamin would fire back for the West Ruimveldt side in the 17th minute as his powerful left-footed effort from the left half of the box, was parried away by GFC custodian Shawn Brown to his right.
However, GFC’s European-based acquisition would continue to pose problems for the Western Tigers backline and almost broke the stalemate in the 29th minute, directing his effort marginally wide of the lower right-hand corner from the left side of the area.
The FC Kruoja midfielder’s combination of speed, skill and power would continue to torment his adversaries as he almost broke the stalemate once more in the 41st minute, lashing his sliding effort just over the crossbar after receiving a Keiron Solomon right-sided cross inside the centre of the penalty box.
Unchanged going into the second period, Western Tigers would capitalize on a defensive error by the GFC backline to claim the undeserved lead.
With his side under pressure for most of the matchup, Joshua Britton would steal the ball off the boot of a defender on the right side of the field, before laying off a through pass to Joseph, who upon cutting into the centre of the area, buried his effort into the lower left hand corner.
Stunned by their concession, the Bourda-based side almost levelled the score in the 59th minute as a Solomon header from the left side of the six-yard box, following a left-sided corner kick was denied smartly by Carter to his right.
Carter would once more prove to be a giant between the uprights, denying Bobb in the 68th minute low to his right within the centre of the area, after the midfielder should have equalized following a one-on-one situation.
His second-half exploits would continue in the 81st minute as he denied a right-foot Solomon volleyed attempt from the left side of the box, with an outstretched right hand following an acrobatic full stretch aerial dive to his right.
With the GFC throwing bodies forward in a desperate search for the equaliser, Western Tigers would finally capitalize in the form of Wilson to put some daylight between the two sides.
Racing away initially on the left side unchallenged during a counter-attack, Wilson upon entering the box would slightly lose control of the ball before deflecting his effort off the leg of the challenging defender into the lower left corner, wrong-footing the keeper in the process.
Substitute forward Dewsbury would then seal the hard-fought win with the final kick of the match, placing his shot into the lower right-hand corner, after skipping past his marker within the left side of the penalty area.
Meanwhile, in the earlier fixture, home side Fruta Conquerors dismantled Houston Stars by a 10-0 score line. Jermaine Junior led the scoring with a hat-trick in the 11th, 44th and 81st minutes while Eon Alleyne and Odel Williams supported with doubles.
Alleyne found the back of the net in the seventh and 31st minutes while Williams netted in the 20th and 54th minutes. Completing the result with solo conversions was Trevon Lythcott, Ryan Hackett and Travis Thornhill in the 68th, 76th and 85th minutes respectively.
With the victory, the home side move on to four points from two matches while Houston Stars remain on zero points from two games. The action is slated to continue today with another doubleheader at the Camp Ayanganna ground.
