West Front Road-Gold is Money and Sophia battled to an exciting 5-5 draw when the inaugural GT Beer Futsal Championship continued at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall on Homestretch Avenue on Thursday.
Michael Oie broke the deadlock in the second minute for West Front Road, intercepting a defensive pass just outside the penalty box, before finishing into the top left hand corner of the net.
Sophia quickly fired back in the fourth minute as Shem Arthur scored, blasting a free kick from the centre of the field into the left corner. It then became 2-1 for Sophia as Arthur scored in similar fashion in the sixth minute, rifling another powerful free kick into the lower left hand.
The scores would become levelled once more in the seventh minute as Oie scored his second, slotting home into the lower right corner after an initial strike was parried by the keeper into this path within the penalty box.
However, an own goal two minutes later then made it 3-2 in favour of Sophia as an attempted Omallo Williams strike from left side of the field, took a deflection off the leg of the defender and rolled into the goal.
Similarly it would then become 3-3 in the 10th minute compliments of a Randolph Wagner attempt, powering his right footed effort from the centre of the field into the lower left hand corner.
The second period then saw Sophia retaking the lead in the 16th minute as Omallo Williams scored, cutting in from the right side before unleashing a powerful left footed dagger into the lower right hand corner.
Sheik Kamal further strengthened Sophia’s position in the 19th minute through a right footed shot into the top left right corner of the net from the right side of the field.
Despite staring down a 5-3 deficit in the final half, West Front Road began the comeback in the 23rd minute compliments of a Michael Pedro effort.
Lurking within the left side of the box, Pedro would unleash a well-placed header into the lower left hand corner after an initial strike came off the cross bar and fell into this path.
West Front Road deservedly secured a point in the matchup as Oie levelled the score in the 27th minute, turning and smashing his effort from the centre of the field, into the top right hand corner, to send the crowd into celebrations.
In the third fixture, Albouystown edged arch-rivals Alexander Village 2-1 in their group-B affair. Roy Cassou opened the scoring for Albouystown in the sixth minute, cutting in from the left flank before finishing past the custodian into the centre of the net. Delon Williams eventually restored parity to proceedings in the 22nd minute, finishing down the centre of the net from within the centre of the box, after stealing the ball from the final defender and being in a two on-one situation.
Nevertheless Cassou would seal the matchup in the 29th minute, stabbing home his effort into the lower right corner after an initial strike from the centre of the field, was parried by the goal keeper into his path.
The second fixture saw West Demerara unit Showstoppers downing Broad Street 5-2. Anthony Sancho led the winners with a double in the 10th and 21st minute while Dexroy Adams, Marvin Josiah and Damian Williams netted in the eight, 11th and 19th minutes correspondingly
On the other side, Leon Richardson recorded a double in the 13th and 25th minutes.
In the opening fixture, North Ruimveldt overcame Beterverwagting (BV) by a 5-3 margin in their group-D affair.
Veteran ball handler Gerald Gittens was the top shot with a double in the 19th and 27th minutes while Orin Massiah, Joshua Browne and Linris Carrington scored in the eight, 16th and 21st minutes respectively.
For the loser, Delroy Dean recorded a hat-trick in the third, 12th and 25th minutes.
Action in the event is slated to continue tomorrow at the same venue.
Winner of the event 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 and the correspondingly accolade.
Other sponsors of the event include the National Milling Company (NAMILCO) of Guyana and Trophy Stall Bourda.
