A hat-trick from Gladwin Johnson helped send Monedderlust through to the next round of the Berbice Football Association (BFA) Cheddi Jagan Memorial Knockout Tournament.
Playing at the Number Five ground on Sunday, Monedderlust defeated Hopetown United 3 – 0 in the feature showdown while the Fruta Conquerors destroyed Netrockers 4 – 1 in the curtain raiser. Johnson netted his first goal in the 17th minute and give his team a 1-0 lead which they maintained up to half time. Just one minute into the second half, Johnson got an opening and scored to put Monedderlust ahead by two and scored his third goal minutes later.
Hopetown United played with grit and determination but could not contain the more experienced former two-time League champions.
The second match was reduced to 70 minutes because of the late arrival of the Netrockers team.
The match saw two evenly matched teams battling each other in the first half with Netrockers drawing first blood as early as the third minute through Keon Bristol.
But Fruta Conquerors pressured the defence and found the equalizer in the 18th minutes from Jomo Hinds who later went on to score a brace. The second half was slightly lopsided with Fruta Conquerors taking advantage of Net Rockers being one player short when Deshawn Joseph was expelled after receiving a second yellow card in the 21st minute.
Eon Alleyne scored in the 48th, Hinds completed his brace in the 52nd and Gerald Grittens found the back of the net in the 64th for Fruta Conquerors to get them through to the next round.
