N/A United sends hosts packing

By Kizan Brumell

Hosts of the NAMILCO Football Festival, Fruta Conquerors, suffered a cruel fate when they were knocked out in the first round of the tournament by New Amsterdam United in a tough battle Sunday night at the Tucville Playfield.

New Amsterdam United goalscorers Leonard Amsterdam and Kevin Joseph. (Orlando Charles photo)

Fruta Conquerors lost  1-2  to the team from Berbice in an  intriguing encounter  which clearly showed that N/A United was the fitter team as the Conquerors were struggling to keep up with the game’s intense pace.

N/A United had Conquerors on the back foot scoring as early as the third minute through a Leonard Amsterdam strike.

Even though Fruta Conquerors dominated ball possession throughout the entire encounter they made numerous mistakes and missed quite a few straight forward opportunities to score which cost them dearly in the end.

Devon Forde scored in the 39th minute for Conquerors and eased some of the nerves around their home ground as the first half ended 1-1.

In the second half Conquerors’s  defence began to slowly wither under constant attacks from the opposition’s strikers who looked as if they were just getting warmed up.

N/A was finally able to get the breakthrough and regain the lead in the 78th minute through the clinical finishing of Kevin Joseph. He broke away from the defence and with only the custodian to get past, did so easily in the end.

Following that goal, N/A put up one of the toughest defensive walls while slightly turning up the pace of their attack while Fruta Conquerors  searched desperately for the equalizer.

In the feature game BK International Western Tigers defeated BV Triumph 2 – 1.

The pace of the Western Tigers game had BV trailing in their wake  in the opening minutes as Tigers often stormed down on the penalty area.

Their first goal came via a penalty kick given because of an infringement committed  in the 18-yard box. The kick, taken by Sherman Davis in the 17th minute, beat the goal keeper to the right for the lead.

The second half saw BV Triumph equalizing in the 54th minute compliments of a Shawn Daniels’ strike.

Then Tigers’ Phillip Rowley made his presence felt in the 83rd minute when he found the back of the net to regain the lead for his team with the clocking winding down towards full time.