West Front Road and Sparta Boss will face off for the inaugural Guyana Beverage Company Busta five-a-side football championships following hard-fought semi-final wins over Queen Street Tiger Bay and Kitty Weavers respectively on Friday.
In front of a sizeable crowd, Sparta Boss laboured to a 4-2 victory against Kitty Weavers while West Front Road squeaked past Queen Street Tiger Bay 1-0.
The two sides will meet in the final on Tuesday at the same venue.
The feature contest between Sparta Boss and Kitty Weavers started off brightly for the North East La Penitence unit as Devon Millington opened the scoring in the fourth minute, cheekily back heeling the ball into the net after pouncing on a loose ball within the right of the box.
It would then become 2-0 in the seventh minute as Sheldon Shepherd blasted his effort into the left hand corner of the goal.
Kitty Weavers would then be given a lifeline two minutes onward as a Colin Clarke strike from the centre of the field, flew into the lower right corner, after the Sparta Boss custodian was blindsided by his own defender.
The North East La Penitence unit almost restored their two goal cushion in the 14th minute as a left sided Millington effort was denied on the goal-line by Clark, after the attacker received the ball following an initial save by opposing ‘keeper.
Gregory Richardson would then be denied from adding to the Sparta score in the 19th minute as he smashed his effort onto the woodwork from within the penalty area.
Under pressure for most of the opening salvo, Kitty would snatch the dramatic equaliser in the 21st minute as Sherwin Vincent scored, evading the challenges of two players following a solo run down the centre of the field before finishing his effort into the lower left corner.
Sparta Boss almost conceded their third goal of the night in the 28th minute but Nigel Denny, bearing down the centre of the goal, saw his right footed shot parried away by the opposing goalkeeper diving to his right.
The North East La Penitence unit would then re-establish their lead in the 35th minute as Travis Grant scored, cutting into the centre of the field from the right side, the diminutive midfielder would place his effort into the lower left corner.
Richardson would then put the game to bed in the 40th minute compliments of a powerful effort into the centre of the goal, after an initial strike collided with the woodwork and fell into his onrushing path within the area.
In the opening semi-final, Deon Alfred almost gave Queen Street the perfect start 30 seconds into the fixture as his volleyed attempt after receiving a right sided cross from within the left of the box, was denied by the custodian.
On the opposite end, Randolph Wagner almost stole the advantage for West Front Road in the 6th minute as his right footed shot from within the right side of the area was denied smartly by the keeper to his left.
Wagner should have given his side the lead five minutes onward as he was denied by the keeper once again from within the right side of the box, after being in a one-on-one situation.
Similarly the goalkeeper would come to the rescue of West Front Road in the 13th minute as Godfrey Powers upon bearing down on the goal with only the keeper in his path, saw his left sided shot from inside the area denied by the custodian’s legs.
West Front Road would then begin to dominate the exchanges as Hubert Pedro almost etched his name on the scorer’s sheet in the 19th minute, directing his header marginally wide of the left side after collecting a right sided cross from Nelson inside the area.
Nelson would then force a save from the Queen Street shot-stopper in the 21st minute as his left footed shot from the right side of the field, was beaten away to safety beautifully low to his left.
Queen Street’s resistance would eventually be broken as Nelson scored fortuitously four minutes later, pouncing on a loose ball within the left of the area before smashing his effort off the woodwork and into the net.
A great chance to level the matchup in the 31st minute would go abegging as Alfred, in a one-on-one situation within the right side of the box, was unable to get off his shot as the goalkeeper smothered the danger.
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.
The most disciplined team will receive $25,000. On the individual side, the most valuable player (MVP) will receive $50,000 while the scorer of the most goals will pocket a gold chain.
