Fruta Conquerors floored Northern Rangers while Santos struggled in their 1-0 win over Black Pearl in Friday evening’s opening double header card of the Banks Premium Beer Cup 16-team knockout football tournament at Tucville playfield in La Penitence.
Conquerors scored a crushing lop-sided 8-0 win over Northern Rangers in the opening match of the tournament after leading 3-0 at half time.
Franklyn Beresford opened the scoring for Conquerors as early as the 2nd minute of play then return to score his second goal of the match in the 21st minute.
Jomo Hinds converted goal number three in the 28th minute as Conquerors held on to a comfortable lead at the half. Conquerors, one of the premier league teams in the tournament continued their onslaught in the second session with Neville Stanton scoring in the 62nd minute before Gerald Gittens got off the mark with a double in the space of two minutes as the hapless Rangers could hardly contain the attacks of their opponents. Gittens scored in the 80th and returned to score his second goal in the 82nd.
One minute later Lester Peters found the back of the net for goal number seven then Odel Williams hammered the final nail in the coffin in the 86th minute.
Despite their success, Conquerors had two of their players, Stanton and Lennox Charles sent off the field while Brandis Squires received marching orders from the referee for Northern Rangers.
In the feature game of the evening, Santos scored a lacklustre 1-0 win over Black Pearl in a match that provided little excitement to the spectators on hand.
The game’s lone goal came in the 52nd minute when Black Pearl’s goalkeeper Sherwyn Maxwell propelled the ball into his own net from a Quacy Price shot.
The tournament is sponsored by local beverage giants Banks DIH Ltd. whose Sales Director Carlton Joao accompanied by Georgetown Football Association (GFA) President Troy Mendonca met groups and all the matches will be played at the Tucville ground.
Alpha United, Guyana Defence Force are lined up in Group A along side Beacons, Uprising, Flamingo, Georgetown Football Club, Houston Stars and Sunburst Camptown.
Teams in Group B are Western Tigers, Thomas United, University of Guyana (UG), Pele, Santos, Black Pearl, Fruta Conquerors and Northern Rangers.
At stake in the competition is a first prize of $250,000with the runners-up team securing $125,000, the third place side will take home $75,000 while fourth place will receive $50,000.
The tournament is organized by the Georgetown Football Association (GFA) and will bring the curtains down on the Association’s 2007 season.
