As has been the norm in recent times, the Bounty GCC men and GBTI/GCC women’s team finished top of their respective divisions in the Guyana Hockey Board (GHB) division one leagues.
This means that the two teams have given themselves two shots at making the finals since the knockout stage will see two qualifiers and an eliminator being played. The top two teams in the respective leagues will play each other with the winner going directly to the final while the loser will play the winner of the third and fourth placed teams match.
The league stage of the Woodpecker Products women’s league and the Farfan and Mendes men’s league was completed Sunday at the Providence National Stadium on the East Bank of Demerara.
The match day saw Saints facing YMCA Old Fort in the men’s league with the latter running out 2-1 winners. Warren Williams (29’) would put Old Fort 1-0 up just before halftime but Saints rallied back to equalize just six minutes after the restart through Baraka Garnett (36’). The two sides stayed level for the remainder of the game and it seemed as though the full time whistle would sound with the score line unchanged.
However, Williams would produce the match winner for Old Fort in the 60th minute to hand his side valuable points.
Bounty GCC took on Pepsi Hikers and eased to a 3-2 win. By the midway point, GCC had a 2-0 advantage with Frederico Cush (11’) and Orlan Semple (33’) on target. The Hikers found a response through striker Robert France (43’) but Vladimir Woodroffe (47’) made things 3-1 in favour of GCC almost immediately.
Close to fulltime, Hikers’ Shane Samuels (58’) would make things interesting but GCC never looked in any danger of conceding a draw.
On the distaff side, GBTI/ GCC thrashed YMCA Old Fort 6-0. The prolific Abosaide Cadogan netted a hat-trick (10’, 46’, 55’) while Paige Fernandes had a brace (25’, 35’) and veteran Tricia Fiedtkou (13’) found the net once in a resounding win.
Saints ladies beat their Woodpecker Hikers counterparts 2-1 as Kaiyra Scott registered a brace for the winners while Laticia Chung had the only response for the losers.
The GBTI/GCC ladies will play second placed Saints in qualifier one while Woodpecker Hikers will face fourth placed Old Fort in the eliminator.
In the men’s league, Bounty GCC will take on Old Fort with Saints and Pepsi Hikers doing battle in the eliminator.
Action continues next Sunday at the National Stadium.
