– GDF and Camptown to compete for third
Only one action packed evening is now left to be witnessed in the 14th annual Mayor’s Cup competition following the conclusion of the semi-finals last Wednesday at the Georgetown Football Club ground where Alpha ‘The Hammer’ United and Pele came out victorious against their opponents.
Pele Football Club defeated Sunburst Camptown in a nail-biting encounter that ended 4 – 1 on penalties after being deadlocked at one nil each at regulation and extra time in the feature match of the double header that had Alpha crushing the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) 3 – 1.
The Pele/Camptown match-up was halted in the second half for close to sixteen minutes after a controversial Pele goal was scored by Gerald Whittington who received a cross from his teammate and thumped it past Maurice Prince, the Camptown goal keeper.
During the team’s celebration of the goal a few Camptown players approached the assistant referee/linesman because of their suspicion that Whittington was offside when he received the ball and the linesman told them that he was obstructed on the sideline and did not make the observation.
The appeal was then relayed to the referee who consulted with both captains and the linesman and this caused a stir on the football field with spectators also trying to get involved.
This situation mostly affected the Pele players because when the goal was scored it had given them the lead again after Camptown equalised the scores 1 – 1 a few minutes into the second half.
The officiating staff resorted to going by the rule book and restarted play from a bounced ball because the referee was obstructed and unable to make a decision and judged the effort as a no-goal.
Extra time was possible because both teams were still tied at one goal each at regulation time. Pele drew first blood in the first half via a penalty kick given for the offence of a defender handling the ball in the 18-yard box.
A powerful strike to the right post from Pele’s captain Travis ‘Zorro’ Grant was enough to get the ball past Prince in the 30th minute for the lead.
Camptown’s equalizer came in the 48th minute when Troy Prescod was able to get a shot past a few defenders and the goal keeper Shemroy Arthur.
Arthur, however, in the penalty shootout denied the opponents their first two attempts making fantastic saves while his team scored their attempts quite easily against Prince to shut out the opposition for the victory.
Alpha turned on the pressure a bit late in their battle with GDF scoring all three of their goals in the final half and restricting the army team to only one goal which was scored in the first 45 minutes of play.
Stellon David drew first blood for GDF when he stormed down the left flank and blasted one past Ronson Williams who got his hands to it but not firmly enough to avoid GDF scoring.
GDF’s Sherlock Downlin was given a red card in the 65th minute leaving his team to battle the then attacking Alpha team with a squad of ten.
Alpha made the most of their opportunities and found the equalizer going through the weakened defence and scoring in the 77th, 81st and 86th minutes with successful strikes coming from Kelvin McKenzie, Dwight Peters and Emrick Williams respectively.
