It was a night of contrasting wins as West Front Road, Queen Street Tiger Bay, Festival City and Cross Street secured quarterfinal berths in the inaugural Guyana Beverage Company Busta football tourney on Friday.
Festival City proved it is not how you start but how you finish that matters most, edging Albouystown by a 1-0 score line in the feature round of 16 contest at the Georgetown Football Club (GFC) in Bourda.
The rain made the surface a difficult one to balance on but Denver Dennis of Albouystown almost broke the deadlock in the fifth minute. However, his powerful right-footed effort from the centre of the field was denied by custodian Troy Carrington to his right.
Carrington would produce loud cheers from the medium viewership as he denied Renaut Fraser brilliantly with his outstretched right leg in the 14th minute, after the midfielder unleashed a right-footed shot from outside the centre of the area, which seemed destined for the bottom corner.
Albouystown would continue to be frustrated by Carrington as he kept the struggling Festival City unit in the fixture, denying Roy Cassou at full stretch with his right hand following a left side strike just outside the area in the 21st minute.
Their failure to breach Carrington would come back to haunt them as Festival City netted in the penultimate minute of the 30-minute fixture through Dwayne Lawrence.
Lurking within the right side of the box, Lawrence would bury his effort into the right hand side of the net following a left side Wayne Wilson pass after the defender set off on a solo run emanating from the left flank of his own half.
Similarly, West Front Road overcame a cagey opening half to defeat North East La Penitence 2-0. Scoreless going into the second stanza, Michael Oie opened the scoring in the 25th minute, stabbing his effort past the advancing goalkeeper after being in a one-on-one situation following a right side pass.
Randolph Wagner would effectively end the contest three minutes onward, lashing his right-footed strike into the roof of the net following a one-on-one situation with the onrushing custodian within the box.
Meanwhile, Cross Street downed Alexander Village by a 3-1 margin. Samuel Hunte pushed Cross Street into the early lead in the fifth minute, placing his effort into the left corner from the top of the area.
Ronaldo Dover would then double their lead four minutes later compliments of a finish into the lower right hand corner, after skipping past his marker within the left side of the field.
Cross Street’s advantage would be further solidified as Dellon David scored in the 11th minute with a strike into the lower left corner from inside the area, after collecting a pass from Dover.
Cross Street would then suffer a major setback as Sheldon Profit was shown a straight red card in the 22nd minute for stomping on the chest of an opposing player while he was lying on the field.
A penalty kick conversion in the 27th minute would eventually lead to Alexander Village finally getting on the board as Jermain Junior buried the spot-kick down the centre of the net, following a hand-ball infraction.
On the other hand, Queen Street Tiger Bay displayed vintage form as they dismantled Ballers 6-2. Darren Harris opened the floodgates in the fifth minute, bundling the ball down the centre of the net after the custodian spilt an initial shot into his path. Deon Alfred would then make it 2-0 two minutes later, rifling his lef- footed attempt into the lower right hand corner after racing down the left side of the field.
Ballers would eventually cut the deficit to one in the 11th minute as Sceyon Hope scored, blasting his effort into the roof of the goal after dribbling his marker on the right side of the field to create the shooting space.
Hope’s goal would prove to be a minor occurrence as Godfrey Powers reestablished Queen Street’s advantage, scoring in the 14th minute after his right footed effort from the top of the box, took a deflection off the leg of a defender and rolled into the left corner.
James Meredith would then get into the scoring act in the 18th minute, placing his effort into the back of the goal unchallenged after receiving a left sided pass from Alfred.
Meredith would then double his tally four minutes onward, striking his shot into the right corner past the advancing ‘keeper, after racing onto a through pass following a one-two pass combination with Alfred.
While Dorville Stewart would find the back of the net in the 27th minute for Ballerz, Keoma Gravesande and Alfred would seal the result with goals in the 28th and 29th minutes respectively.
The action continues today at the same venue with the remaining round of 16 fixtures. The opening match of the round at 20:45hrs will pit Broad Street against Kitty Weavers while Sophia will oppose North Ruimveldt from 21:30hrs in the second fixture of the section.
In the final two fixtures of the night, West Back Road will oppose Bent Street from 22:15hrs while Sparta Boss will lock horns with Globe Yard in the feature contest at 23:00hrs.
Victors of the tourney will receive the championship trophy and $600,000. Meanwhile the second, third and fourth placed sides will receive $300,000, $200,000 and $100,000 respectively and the respective accolade.
