Old Fort second division team got off to a flying start on the opening night of the GT&T sponsored National Indoor Hockey championships with a crushing 8-1 win over Carib Degenerates Wednes-day evening at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.
Goal-hungry Tony Cole netted five goals while there was one apiece for enthusiastic newcomer Terence Shaw, Michael Hawke and Dwayne Allen.
Rawle “Muffy” Davson netted the lone goal for the Degenerates.
Western Dragons squeezed past Hikers in the second, second division match of the evening 4-3 with Adrian Sampson netting a double while Jermaine Murray and Deon Bradford scored one each for the West Demerara side.
Quillon Williams hit home a double for Hikers while the diminutive Andrew Stewart managed one.
The highlight of the first day however was a battle between top ladies teams Georgetown Cricket Club (GCC) Tigers and Hikers.
After tentative and seemingly nervous opening exchanges, Hikers got on the board first through an Amanda Garnett conversion when she received a pass that pierced the centre of the GCC defence, before slotting home a close range shot past goalkeeper Natalie Hing.
GCC levelled the score just before the half through Captain Sonia Jardine who flicked home a powerful shot in the 20th minute.
GCC extended their lead through veteran Brennette Gordon as they capitalised on a quick counter-attacking move to catch the Hikers on their heels.
National captain Maria Munroe almost won the match for Hikers late in the second half as she produced several threatening penalty corner flicks, two of which found the back of the net.
However, Jardine rallied with her second goal for GCC tipping it in just 5 minutes from the end to leave the scores tied on 3-3 at the final whistle.
The competition continues this evening with five matches at the Sports Hall with Dragons Two taking on Hikers ‘B’ in the men’s second division, GCC “A” and Hikers “A” will square off in a men’s first division encounter, Dragons Ladies will oppose GCC, while Dragons One men will be up against Degenerates and the final game of the evening will pit Old Fort “A” against GCC ‘B’ in the men’s first division.
The tournament features all of Guyana’s top club sides in men’s 1st and 2nd as well as women’s divisions and will serve as a selection tournament for teams to compete in the upcoming international indoor festival.
For the first time there will be three teams based outside of Georgetown in the championships as the Western Dragons of Uitvlugt has matched Hikers and GCC with three teams while Old Fort has entered two Carib Degenerates one.
