Eagles United recorded a 1-0 victory over Amelia’s Ward United while Winners Connections and Blue Berry Hill played to a 1-1 stalemate when the Upper Demerara Football Association (UDFA)/ Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports (MCYS) sponsored premier league competition continued at the Mackenzie Sports Club (MSC) ground on Wednesday night.
In the first game of the double header, Eagles United’s Derion Smith scored a beauty from a Kennard Simon corner kick taken in the 12th minute.
This was after Rondel Abrams patted the ball straight into the hands of Amelia’s Ward United’s custodian Odell Allicock in the second minute.
The goal awoke Eagles, who began a series of raids on their opponents’ goal but poor finishing and at times excess dribbling prevented them from scoring more goals. Abrams and at times Dirk Farrell were the culprits even though the latter had a splendid night in the field for his team.
Amelia’s Ward came into their own when a Shawn Daniels shot went wide of the uprights in the 25th minute of an action packed game that was worthy of a curtain raiser even though it commenced 125 minutes later than the actual 18:00hrs (6:00pm) start, which according to the organizers, was caused by school athletics activities taking place at the venue earlier.
A seesaw battle ensued as each team sought an advantage but at lemon time Eagles United managed to defend their lead against numerous attacks from Amelia’s Ward United even as Daniels tried to make up for his blunder when he outran his markers but shot wide.
After the break, it was Amelia’s Ward United’s turn to attack Eagles United whose three defenders, led by Smith, Nigel Bradford and Trenton Bangree held firm against the attacks of Ezra Greene, Daniels, Howard Waterton and Orvis Hinds who was overlapping from the left back position.
Hinds even sent a low shot to the already tried and trusted Reynold Arthur in goal for Eagles United, who was up to the task and played an integral role in his team coming out victorious in the encounter with his timing and interception of passes.
And at the sound of the referee’s whistle, Eagles United were able to hold onto their lead and subsequently left the match with three points while their more illustrious opponents must be ruing the missed chances which caused them to leave empty-handed.
Action in the second encounter was not as exciting as the first even though Blue Berry Hill, who are joint leaders of the competition with defending champions Topp XX, employed body attacks against their opponents.
Blue Berry Hill’s Mally Major had the opportunity to send his team into the lead as early as the fifth minute when faced with a one-on-one situation with Winners Connections custodian but instead of attempt[ting to go around the advancing goalkeeper, he opted to shoot and his shot ended up going wide of the mark.
At the other end of the field, a goal mouth scrimmage
send Winners Connections into the lead but the shot was not only high, but wide of the mark.
However, after 20 minutes of play, Keon Smith thought he had seen too many blunders by his teammates and following a poor clearance from a corner kick, he let loose a rocket-like shot which left not only the defence but also the custodian bewildered as the ball settled at the back of the net.
Even though they held the lead, Winners Connection was forced on the back foot by Blue Berry Hill who made several raids to goal and it was no surprise to those gathered when they got the equaliser.
Royston Fraser received a through ball from Ray Bobb Semple from a quickly taken free kick inside their own half which caught Winners Connection by surprise and, after outsprinting his markers, he calmly placed the ball into the back of the net in the 41st minute.
In the second half, Waynewright Bethune of Winners Connections sent a gem of a pass to his forward Rene Gibbons who was unmarked in the box, but his shot was way off target while teammate Rawle Gittens sent a shot from inside the 18-yard box, hard and wide of Blue Berry Hill’s uprights.
Blue Berry Hill were also guilty of squandering scoring opportunities that should have been easily converted, thus guaranteeing them sole ownership of the leader’s position at the top of the table, but at the end of play, both teams were left to rue their missed chances and share the points.
Meanwhile in matches played last Friday, defending champions Bakewell Topp XX defeated Silver Shattas 3-1, with goals off the boots of Jamie Wilson (24th), Shevaughn Seaforth (75th) and Ron Fiedtkou (90th), while Alister Johnson pulled one back for Silver Shattas in the 63rd minute.
Milerock and Blue Berry Hill played to a goalless draw in their match-up later.
