Western Tigers and Fruta Conquerors joined Pele FC and Slingerz in the semi-final stage of the Mayor’s Cup knockout football tournament after securing hard-fought wins over Ann’s Grove and Georgetown Football Club (GFC) respectively on Sunday.
Played at the GFC ground, Bourda, Western Tigers defeated the East Coast of Demerara unit 3-0 in extra time after a 0-0 score. Similarly, the Tucville giants defeated the home side by a 2-0 score line in extra time after the regulation interval ended 0-0.
The victorious sides will now face off tomorrow in the semi-final round at the same venue. Unable to penetrate the backline of Ann’s Grove in normal time, Western Tigers would fortuitously take the lead in the 103rd minute through a Randolph Wagner effort.
Picking the ball up in the centre of the field, Wagner would unleash a flat 26-yard strike which went through the goalkeeper’s grasp and narrowly sneaked into the net, despite his desperate attempt.
The resulting goal would open the floodgates as Michael Pedro scored in the 113th minute, placing his right-footed strike into the right side of the net from within the centre of the penalty area.
The result would then be sealed four minutes later as Pedro completed his brace with a strike into the lower right corner after cutting into the right side of the box. In the earlier matchup, Fruta Conquerors were also made to work in their search of a victory.
Manager of Bourda unit in a post match comment said:”If we are all honest with ourselves, GFC were beaten by Alpha United tonight not Fruta. It was the Alpha contracted men that won Fruta the game.
“GFC v Fruta has in the past 12 months become quite a rivalry. I welcome Fruta to come back and play GFC again on our ground any time without the four Alpha players in their line-up. I think that is a game all the fans want to see happen,” he added.
The Tucville unit opened the scoring in the 95th minute through a Daniel Wilson right-footed volley into the left corner from within the area, which went under the body of the diving GFC custodian.
Needing to equalise to keep their semi-final aspirations alive, the home side would suffer a set-back in the 106th minute as Steve Wilson was sent off for denying a clear goal-scoring opportunity for Travis Thornhill following a counterattack on the right side of the field.
The Tucville unit would then clinch the win in the 119th minute as Sheldon Holder scored, finishing to the lower right hand corner from the left side of the box, after latching onto a Wilson pass following another counterattack starting from the right side of the park.
Winners of the event will receive $1,000,000 and the championship trophy while the runners-up will pocket $300,000 and the respective title. The third and fourth positioned teams will walk away with $200,000 and
$100,000 respectively and the corresponding accolade.
