West Front Road-Gold is Money led by an inspired second half showing from siblings Randolph Wagner and Hubert Pedro, overcame Showstoppers 7-6 when the final round of group fixtures in the inaugural GT Beer Futsal Championship concluded on Wednesday.
Trailing 4-2 going into the second half at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall, the Georgetown unit registered five goals in the space of six minutes in the period to seal the enthralling spectacle witnessed by a large gathering.
With the West Demerara unit needing a win to progress to the next round and the Georgetown unit simply requiring a draw to progress, it all started in the 24th minute as Pedro re-directed an attempted right-sided strike from Wagner into the centre of the net, from within the box.
Showstoppers then restored their two-goal lead in the 26th minute as Simon Emmanuel netted from the penalty mark into the lower left corner, after the Georgetown unit had accumulated their sixth foul of the quarter.
The concession of the goal seemed only to motivate West Front Road who quickly replied one minute later in the shape of Wagner, who cheekily back-heeled the ball through the legs of the advancing keeper into the centre of the net from within the box, drawing loud cheers in the process from the viewership.
The pressure of the situation seemed to unsettle Showstoppers as they conceded a penalty kick seconds later after picking up their sixth foul of the stanza.
Tasked with the responsibility of ensuring a conversion to level the score, Pedro did not disappoint as he sent the partisan crowd into wild celebrations with a powerful right-footed effort which went through the legs of the keeper and into the lower left corner.
With the crowd on their feet and West Demerara looking rattled, Wagner made his presence felt once more in the 28th minute, blasting a powerful right-footed shot into the lower left hand corner, sending the arena into a frenzy as West Front Road snatched the lead.
However the plot would thicken as Showstoppers restored parity to proceedings in the 29th minute through Lloyd Prince, who clinically finished his effort down the centre of the net, after an initial Anthony Sancho penalty kick was denied by the keeper, allowing the former to race onto the rebound and finish.
Nonetheless, cometh the hour, cometh the man as Wagner broke West Demerara hearts, rifling his right-footed effort with less than 30 seconds remaining on the clock into the centre of the net, capping off a thrilling come-from-behind win and sending the crowd into loud screams. Prior to the fixture’s climatic end, Showstoppers took the lead in the second minute as Sancho placed his first time effort into centre of the net from the left side of the field.
West Front Road responded in the seventh minute to level the score as Wendell Pedro slotted home down the centre of the goal after making contact with a flat left-sided cross from Hubert Pedro.
The West Demerara unit then retook the lead in the 12th minute as Sancho netted his second, placing his right-footed effort from the right side of the field, through the legs of the keeper and into the net.
The back and forth nature of the contest continued two minutes onward as Hubert Pedro opened his account, rifling a thunderous effort from his own half into the lower right hand corner to level proceedings once more.
However the match would begin to unravel for West Front Road as Sancho sealed his hat-trick, intercepting a lobbed pass just outside the centre of the arc, before finishing into the back of the net.
Dexroy Adams then completed a positive half for the West Demerara unit, doubling their lead seconds later compliments of a left-sided strike into the centre of the net, after collecting a pass from the top of the penalty area.
In the other result, Bent Street downed North Ruimveldt by a 7-6 score line to clinch their place in the knockout round at the expense of the latter. Doubles from Stellon David in the 17th and 26th minutes and Daniel Wilson in the ninth and 30th minutes led the way for the winner.
Assisting with solo efforts in the second, 10th and 25th minutes were Okeene Fraser, Colin Nelson and Sheldon Profitt respectively.
On the other side, veteran marksman Gerald Gittens led the way with goals on either side of the half in the fifth and 29th minutes while Rickford Jones recorded a second half double in the 22nd and 28th minute.
Contributing with solitary conversions were Joshua Browne who netted the fastest goal of the tournament in 16 seconds and Colin Daniels who scored in the 14th minute.
The second fixture of the night witnessed Sophia clinching the top spot in group-C, crushing Broad Street by a 10-4 margin. Sheik Kamal top scored in the rout with a hat-trick in the 21st, 22nd and 25th minutes respectively.
Similarly recording doubles were Omallo Williams in the second and 16th minute, Desmond Cottam in the 17th and 20th minutes as well as Shem Porter in the 18th and 28th minutes. Completing the win with a 15th-minute conversion was Joshua Kamal.
On target in the loss was Rocky Gravesande, his sibling Jimmy Gravesande, Kevin Cummings and Leon Richardson in the sixth, 13th, 19th and 22nd minutes respectively. In the opening fixture, West Back Road defeated Beterverwagting (BV) via the event’s first walkover.
With the respective wins, the four sides now join the likes of Sparta Boss, Albouystown, Festival City and Kitty Weavers in the final eighth round which is slated to commence at the same venue on Sunday.
The matchups for Sunday will be West Front Road tackling bitter rivals West Back Road, Sparta Boss opposing Kitty Weavers, Festival City locking horns with Albouystown and Bent Street taking on Sophia.
The winner of the event will collect $500,000 and trophy while the second, third and fourth place finishers will collect $250,000, $125,000 and $75,000 and the corresponding accolade.
Other sponsors of the event include the National Milling Company (NAMILCO) of Guyana and Trophy Stall.
Final Standings
Group-A
Team P W D L GF GA GD P
Festival City(Q) 3 3 0 0 20 12 +8 9
Kitty Weavers(q) 3 1 0 2 11 13 -2 3-
(Progressed via the head-to-head rule after defeating Queen Street 5-4 in their matchup)
Queen Street
Tigerbay 3 1 0 2 14 16 -2 3
Agricola 3 1 0 2 12 16 -4 3
Group-B
Team P W D L GF GA GD P
Sparta Boss(Q) 3 3 0 0 14 6 +8 9
Albouystown(q) 3 2 0 1 9 6 +3 6
Alexander Village 3 1 0 2 10 7 +3 3
Globe Yard 3 0 0 3 4 18 -14 0
Group-C
Team P W D L GF GA GD P
Sophia(Q) 3 2 1 0 26 16 +10 7
West Front Road(q) 3 2 1 0 19 13 +6 7
Showstoppers 3 1 0 2 18 21 -3 3
Broad Street 3 0 0 3 8 22 -14 0
Group-D
Team P W D L GF GA GD P
West Back Road(Q) 3 3 0 0 12 5 +7 9
Bent Street(q) 3 2 0 1 20 16 +4 6
North Ruimveldt 3 1 0 2 12 14 -2 3
Beterverwagting (BV) 3 0 0 3 8 17 -9 0
Key
Q-Group Winner
q-Runner-up
