Fruta Conquerors clinched their berth to the quarterfinal round, labouring to a come-from-behind 3-1 win over Mahaica Determinators when the 25th edition of the Kashif and Shanghai Football tourney continued on Saturday at the Victoria Community ground.
Odel Williams led the Tucville side with a double on either side of half time in the 45th and 88th minutes while Jermin Junior netted in the 90th+1 minute. On target in the loss was Quincy Holder in the 37th minute.
With the win, Fruta Conquerors will now lock horns with the winner of the Slingerz FC and Victoria Kings showdown.
In the earlier moments of the matchup, Junior would fashion the first opportunity for the Tucville unit in the 22nd minute as he lashed his effort just wide of the left corner, after latching onto a right sided Delon Williams cross within the left side of the box.
William Europe would fire back for Mahaica seven minutes later, rifling a powerful left footed attempt from 22 yards out within the centre of the field, just wide of the top left hand corner of the net.
Mahaica would then take the surprise lead eighth minutes onward as Holder finished his effort into the lower left hand corner, after receiving the ball in what seemed to be a contentious off side position just behind the defence.
Not to be deterred, the Tucville side would level the score on the stroke of halftime as Williams placed his attempt into the roof of the net, after pouncing on a botched attempted clearance within the centre of the box from a left sided Junior cross.
With both sides struggling for fluency in the second stanza, Fruta Conquerors would be given the opportunity to take the lead two minutes before the end of normal time as Junior was brought down from behind within the centre of the penalty area.
Tasked with taking the spot kick, Williams would see his initial penalty strike denied by the keeper low to his right, only to pounce on the rebound and finish down the centre of the goal.
The win would then be sealed three minutes onwards as Junior upon being brought down once more within the box, buried his attempt clinically into the right hand side of the net,
Also securing the place among the final eighth was Pele FC who defeated Grove Hi-Tech by a 1-0 score line in a physical contest which saw the sending off three players. Veteran midfielder Konata Manning netted the fixture’s only conversion through a 45th minute strike.
Among the causalities were the Pele duo of Joshua Kamal and Deshane Garnette who were sent off in the 55th and 88th minutes respectively while Orson Francois was also sent off for the losers in the 55th minute.
Francois was sent off for a reckless challenge on Kamal while the latter was dismissed for reacting physically to the challenge. Garnette on the other hand was dismissed after picking up his second bookable offence for dissent.
Due to the win, Pele will now faceoff with the winner of the Winners Connection and Ann’s Grove fixture.
Winner of the event will receive the championship trophy and $2,000,000 while the runners-up will collect $1,000,000 and the respective title. The third and fourth placed teams will receive $500,000 and $250,000 respectively with the corresponding accolade.
Action in the tourney is slated to continue today at the Mackenzie Sports Club ground in Linden with a doubleheader.
Ann’s Grove will faceoff with Winners Connection in the feature contest at 20:30hrs while Western Tigers and Hi-Stars will do battle from 18:30hrs in the opening matchup.
