Georgetown Cricket Club men’s first division team dethroned last year’s winners Old Fort while GCC women won the ladies’ title and Western Dragons the second division title when the curtain came down on the GT&T sponsored National Indoor Hockey championships Sunday evening at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.
In the men’s final, nine goals were scored in the blistering encounter which saw GCC squeezing past Old Fort 5-4 in a closely-fought contest.
Old Fort took an early lead through a penalty corner by Canadian-based international Jonathan Roberts but GCC, who seemed the more organised of the two sides, enjoyed several raids on their opponents’ goal and eventually equalised through a field goal by veteran Alan Fernandes.
The Bourda side went further ahead when Orlando Semple netted a field goal one minute into the second half and Devin Hooper converted a penalty corner bullet to push his team ahead before Semple came back with his second strike of the match.
Despite the now seemingly overwhelming score at 4-1, Roberts, who had represented Canada in the last indoor World Cup, had not yet given up and his counterattacking raids on the GCC goal produced the breakthrough that his side needed with a field goal in the 27th minute.
GCC’s Fernandes showed his experience as among the excitement and voluminous support of the crowd for both sides, he received a Dwayne Scott pass up the middle and patiently placed the ball in the back of the net past the advancing keeper.
The tides had turned in Old Fort’s favour however and national Aderemi Simon brought his team within two through a penalty corner with nine minutes left on the clock and Roberts completed a hat-trick to lead Old Fort within one three minutes later.
Time expired on Old Fort however as the fans rose to thunderous applause at the entertaining spectacle deserving of a final.
Earlier in the evening the Western Dragons outpaced the Old Fort “B” 5-2 to be crowned second division champs.
The in-form Adrian Sampson produced some superior stick skills to register a hat-trick for the victors and Deon Carew and Deon Branford added singles.
Jason DeSantos made a gallant attempt for Old Fort and seemed the most skilful player on show but his two goals fell well short of the mark.
In the ladies’ final GCC Tigers and Hikers ladies shared another of their usual closely fought battles but the Tigers clawed their opponents to win the clash 1-0.
Both goalkeepers Alysa Xavier for GCC and Tonza Sarrabo for Hikers were in top form and managed to keep the score line much lower than the many opportunities suggested.
National defender Trisha Woodroffe broke the deadlock with a penalty corner flick for GCC four minutes into the second half that would remain the meagre difference between the two sides and give her team the victory. Hikers “A” defeated GCC “B” in the first division bronze medal match by 3-2 while the Carib Degenerates pulled off a 4-3 victory over Hikers “B” to secure the second division bronze.
The Guyana Hockey Board expressed gratitude to sponsors GT&T for their many years of consistent support to the tournament.
GT&T Marketing Officer, Phaedra Cramer-Phillips, was on hand to present the trophies during the presentation ceremony held immediately after the final game.
The tournament was played off to identify the teams to represent Guyana at the upcoming Diamond Mineral Water International Indoor championships billed for later this month at the Sports Hall.
