It was cold night in May as Amelia’s Ward Russians were crowned the Guinness of the Streets Linden champions, edging crowd favourite Wisroc by a 2-1 score line on Monday at the Mackenzie Market Place tarmac.
Shawn Daniels and Terrence Aaron silenced the huge crowd with goals on either side of half time in the ninth and 29th minutes respectively. On target in the loss was Randy Wills in the 25th minute.
With the victory, Amelia’s Ward Russians walked away with the championship accolade and $300,000. On the other hand, the Wisroc unit was relegated to the second place accolade and $150,000.
Similarly for making the event’s finale, Amelia’s Ward Russians and Wisroc earned the right to represent the zone at the impending national championship.
In a matchup of few chances and many broken plays, the Russians broke the deadlock nine minutes into the 15 minute period as Daniels netted, lashing his right footed effort into the lower left corner from the right side of the field, quieting the majority of the viewership.
The Russians almost added to their tally in the 17th minute as Aaron unleashed a powerful right footed attempt which cannoned into the woodwork from the right side of the park, much to the disbelief of the Amelia’s Ward bench.
Wisroc’s Omar Archer almost provided the partisan crowd with a reason to cheer as he was denied four minutes later by the final defender just outside the penalty arc, following a one-on-one situation.
The viewership would eventually get a cause to celebrate, screaming in loud appreciation as Wills netted the equaliser five minutes before the end of normal time by slotting his attempt into the back of the net from the left side of the field.
Unfazed by their concession and the biased cheers of the crowd, the Russians would find the go-ahead winner one minute before the end of normal time as Aaron slotted his first time effort into the roof of the net, after collecting a right sided Quacey Johnson pass just outside centre of the arc following a counterattack.
In the earlier third place matchup, Retrieve Unknowns and Star Boyz were both disqualified from the event following a brief scuffle on the playing surface. At the time of the stoppage, the score was 3-0 in the favour of Retrieve Unknowns.
Due to the disqualification of both teams, Main Street Panthers were awarded the third position, walking away with $100,000 while Hard-Knocks was promoted to the fourth position, earning $50,000 in the process.
