Fans were treated to an entertaining night of hockey with four action-paced games at the opening of the Banks DIH Night Hockey tournament Wednesday at Thirst Park.
Georgetown Cricket Club (GCC) ‘A’ squeezed past Old Fort 1-0 in the feature first division men’s game while the second division competition saw two drawn matches with Old Fort ‘B’ and Carib Degenerates battling to a 1-1 tie and GCC Flora (females) holding their male side 3-3.
Hikers men, however was not so generous inflicting a 6-0 drubbing on their women’s team in the other encounter of the evening.
In the main game, Old Fort strikers, spearheaded by star player Aderemi Simon, made early inroads into GCC’s goal area.
Simon weaved his way through the heavy defensive traffic to create several scoring chances on the GCC goal.
However, the Bourda side’s defence, marshalled by Dwayne Scott, was equal to the task.
The game’s only goal was scored in the 13th minute when Orland Semple pounced on a rebound from a Devin Hooper attempt to put his side up.
GCC would settle into a better rhythm in the second half and seemed destined to improve on the scoreline but were unable to penetrate the defence of Michel Smith between the uprights for Old Fort as the match ended in the 1-0 victory for GCC.
In the opening contest, an all-GCC affair, the male second division line-up gained a comfortable 3-0 lead by the half through a goal from newcomer Mark Sargeant and a double from Brian Gomes.
The ladies’ captain, Sonia Jardine, led the comeback charge for her girls deep into the second period with a diving attempt while Ashley DeGroot in the 45th and Brennette Gordon in the penultimate minute added one goal each to tie the game at 3-3 just before the final buzzer.
Old Fort ‘B’ and the Degenerates battled to a 1-1 stalemate next as a brilliant first-time opener by Jonathan Yearwood of the Degenerates in the 23rd minute was matched by a Robert Hussein tip in five minutes into the second half.
The ever-improving Hikers ‘B’ demolished the Hikers ladies who fielded a young rebuilding side 6-0.
Kenny Kansinally in the fourth minute and Ryan Primo in the 17th, gave the Hikers’ boys a 2-0 lead at the half.
Kansinally would add one more in the second half although the scoring was all but dominated by Akeem Thompson who poured in a hat-trick.
Matches continue at Thirst Park on Wednesday with Flora GCC playing the Hikers ‘B’, GCC ‘B’ versus the Hikers ladies and Degenerates versus Dragons all in second division competition while the feature match will pit the Hikers ‘A’ against Old Fort ‘A’ in men’s first division. Matches start at 18:30hrs.
