GFF Premier League…Santos gets the better of Mahaica Determinators

Santos overcame Mahaica Determinators 2-0 when the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) National Premier League recommenced at the Georgetown Football Club ground, Bourda on Sunday.

Julian Harte should have opened the scoring for Mahaica in the 17th minute, but his right footed strike inside the 18 yard box in a one-on-one situation with the Santos goalkeeper went narrowly wide of the left post.

Mahaica would be presented with another glorious chance to break the deadlock in the 29th minute but Quincy Holder fired just over the crossbar from inside the centre of the area after latching onto a rebound. The opening goal would continue to evade the Mahaica unit and Holder would once again find himself in the spotlight, chipping his strike from the middle of the penalty area just over the crossbar in the 41st minute.

On the back foot for most of the opening period, Santos would make Mahaica pay for their failure to capitalise on the earlier chances as they took the lead in the 45th minute through a Jermin Fraser finish. Lurking inside the centre of the six-yard area, Fraser would place his right-footed strike into the right hand corner of the net after collecting a perfectly weighted pass from the centre of the park by recent acquisition Andy Duke.

Mahaica Determinators Shameer Nazeer (sixth from left) in the process of challenging Orin Yarde of Santos for possession of the ball during Sunday night’s GFF Premier League match. (Orlando Charles photo)
Mahaica Determinators Shameer Nazeer (sixth from left) in the process of challenging Orin Yarde of Santos for possession of the ball during Sunday night’s GFF Premier League match. (Orlando Charles photo)

The Georgetown side would complete the score line in what would prove to be a relatively quiet second period, through a Paul Daniels header to the right hand side of the net.

Coach of the losing side Peter Gulliver during an invited comment said: “We had many opportunities to score but we failed. The team that scored first got the motivation to move on. It was bad covering that made the goal score.

“We lost on our mistakes but for me looking at the team generally we played good football in the first 45 minutes. We lost composure around the 60th minute and was going through the motions. We hope in the next game we get back the togetherness and bounce back,” added Gulliver.

The other two fixtures in the tripleheader saw Den Amstel edging Milerock 1-0 whilst the matchup between the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) and BK Western Tigers was rescheduled to a later date. This appointment will be announced shortly.

The doubleheader at the Buxton Community ground on the East Coast of Demerara was not played due to an unsuitable playing surface.

The matches that were scheduled were fourth positioned Buxton United battling 12th placed Grove Hi-Tech and 10th positioned Beterverwagting (BV)/Triumph United facing off with 14th placed Winners Connection.