The Guyana Defence Force (GDF) and Santos football clubs made it to the final of the annual Mayor’s Cup Knockout Football Tournament on Wednesday when they defeated their opponents in the semi-final at the Georgetown Football Club (GFC) Ground.
In the feature match of the double header Santos defeated Fruta Conquerors 4 – 1 on penalty kicks after being deadlocked at 1 – 1 at the end of fulltime while GDF comfortably got past Riddim Squad 3 – 1 in the curtain raiser.
Santos will now meet the army team in the final on Sunday at 8 pm while Conquerors and Riddim go head to head for third place at 6 pm at the GFC Ground.
It was a keenly contested 120 minutes in the Santos/Conquerors battle although it was evident that the latter completely controlled the first half with better passing and more accurate shots on goal.
Fruta Conquerors were the first to score in the 16th minute when they won a free kick just about 12 yards on top of the 18-yard box.
Neville Stanton stunned the Santos contingent when he released a terrific shot that flew past their custodian who had no chance of stopping the ball. In the first 45 minutes it seemed that defence became Santos’ game plan as they failed to find any shot that could trouble the goal keeper.
However, they managed to keep out the opposition and trailed by just that one goal at the half time mark.
When the second segment resumed Santos found the equalizer in the 46th minute when William Europe was left unmarked in the opposition’s 18-yard box following a collision between the goal keeper and a defender. Europe then got all the time in the world to find the back of the net.
Neither team was able to score for the remainder of the match which sent it to extra time. Even then the deadlock could not be broken so the game had to be decided on penalties.
Fruta Conquerors were on the unlucky side because they kept releasing off target shots which cost them the game while Santos kept focus and recorded all goals.
In the opening showdown, Riddim Squad put up a tougher fight than the army team expected but they still managed to hold their composure to emerge victorious.
GDF led as early as the eighth minute, compliments of a Hubert Pedro strike and they held that margin until the second half.
GDF led 2 – 0 in the 67th minute when Delroy Dean found the back of the net but the opposition happened to pull one back and made it a one possession game in the 72nd minute when Sheldon Hope scored.
Eight minutes later Royan Morrision delivered the final blow for GDF by once again making it a two goal lead in the 80th minute.
