It was a night littered with goals as West Front Road Gold is Money, Festival City, Bent Street and Sophia recorded wins when the inaugural GT Beer Futsal Championship continued on Friday at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.
In the evening’s finale, West Front Road sent an ominous warning to the field in front of a medium-sized crowd as they dismantled seasoned campaigners Broad Street by a 7-2 score line. Randolph Wagner opened the scoring in the very first minute for the winners with a first time strike from the top of the area which crashed into the right post and rolled into the net.
Broad Street then levelled the score four minutes later as Leon Richardson scored with a first time effort into the left corner, after racing onto a right-sided cross on the left side of the penalty area.
Nevertheless, West Front Road retook the lead in the seventh minute as Wagner sealed his double with a left side shot into the roof of the net.
It would become 3-1 in the ninth minute as Hubert Pedro rifled a powerful right-footed shot into the left corner from the centre of the field, after skipping past his marker. The score would further balloon as Pedro netted his second of the night, a powerful left-footed dagger into the top left hand corner from the left side of the playing area.
An own goal in the 11th minute would make it 5-1 as a powerful right-footed effort from Pedro in the centre of the field, took a deflection off the final defender, wrong-footing the keeper and settling into the right hand corner.
The goals would continue to rain in the second period as Michael Oie scored in the 19th minute, stabbing his effort into the lower right hand corner, after collecting a left-sided pass within the centre of the area.
Wagner then completed his hat-trick in the 22nd minute with a strike into the lower left hand corner to push the score line to 7-1. Broad Street scored another consolation goal two minutes later as Ryan Jones netted.
In the third affair, Festival City downed Queen Street, Tiger Bay by a 7-5 margin. Quincy Hemmerding gave Queen Street the lead in the fourth minute with a right-side shot into the lower left hand corner.
Festival City equalised three minutes onward through an own-goal as a right-sided Eon Alleyne effort, took a sharp deflection off the body of a defender and nestled into the roof of the net. Festival City then seized control of the matchup as Alleyne etched his name on the scorer’s sheet in the eighth minute, blasting a thunderous right-footed effort from the right side of the field into the top left hand corner.
The score line increased to 3-1 in the ninth minute as Dwayne Lawrence tackled a right-sided cross into the lower right hand corner of the net. Solomon Austin got into the scoring act for Festival City in the 14th minute, stealing the ball from its intended target before volleying his right-footed shot into the roof of the goal from the centre of the field.
Queen Street eventually pulled one back on the stroke of the halftime interval as Alpha Fletchman netted in the 15th minute, placing his right-footed effort into the lower right hand corner.
Festival City’s three goal lead would be re-established in the 18th minute as Lawrence scored compliments of a calm finish into the right hand corner, after collecting a back-heeled pass from Alleyne within the centre of the box. Lawrence then completed his hat-trick in the 22nd minute, blasting his right-footed attempt into the left hand corner after racing down the right side of the playing surface.
However, Queen Street would pull within two goals as Daren Harris netted twice in the space of one minute. He netted his first in the 23rd minute with a shot into the centre of the goal following a one-on-one situation before grabbing his second, moments later, through a finish into the left hand corner.
Nevertheless, Festival City continued to find the back of the net as Lawrence sealed his helmet-trick in the 28th minute with a sliding effort into the centre of the goal after collecting a right-sided cross from Keith Fletcher.
Queen Street eventually completed the score line one minute later as Hemmerding scored his second with a strike into the roof of the right hand corner.
The second affair of the night saw Bent Street dismissing Beterverwagting (BV) by a 9-5 margin. Colin Nelson top scored in the win with a hat-trick in the 13th, 25th and 26th minute while Okeene Fraser supported with a double in the 13th and 14th minute.
Completing the score line with solo efforts were Daniel Wilson, Steffon Ramsay, Sheldon Profit and Frank Crandon in the 12th, 15th, 17th and 30th minute respectively.
On the other side, Warren Gilkes recorded a double in the 20th and 24th minute while Delroy Dean, Devon Griffith and Reon Hopkinson scored in the second, 27th and 28th minute respectively.
In the opening fixture, Sophia crushed West Demerara unit Showstoppers 11-7. Hat-tricks from Dwayne Lowe in the fourth, sixth and 22nd minute and Akeem Jaikissoon in the 16th, 27th and 30th minute led the way for Sophia.
Assisting with a double was Shem Porter in the fifth and 18th minute while Sheik Kamal, sibling Joshua Kamal and an own goal in the 11th, 17th and 21st minute respectively, completed the result.
For the loser, Simon Emmanuel recorded a helmet trick in the 20th, 24th, 26th and 28th minute while Anthony Sancho bagged a hat-trick in the 10th, 19th and 23rd minute.
The winner of the tournament will collect $500,000 and the championship trophy while the second, third and fourth place finishers will collect $250,000, $125,000 and $75,000 respectively and the corresponding trophy.
Action in the event is slated to continue tomorrow at the same venue with four fixtures. In the opening fixture at 7pm, Queen Street, Tiger Bay will oppose Kitty Weavers while Bent Street will lock horns with West Back Road in the second fixture at 7:45pm.
The third fixture at 9pm will pit Sparta Boss against Globe Yard while Agricola will faceoff with Festival City in the final fixture from 9:45pm.
