Alpha United reach final at expense of defending champs

A terrific night of football was unfortunately cut short due to a power failure when the second semifinal match in the Namilco Football Festival between host Fruta Conquerors and Santos ended prematurely at the Tucville Playfield on Saturday night.

The Conquerors/Santos encounter was near the half time mark with the teams locked at nil all when the outage struck.

Prior to that, Alpha United defeated defending champions Sunburst Camptown 3 – 1 to move into the final.

Tournament organizers have rescheduled the Conquerors/Santos semifinal for Wednesday at the same venue.

Admission will be free while the final is set for Sunday.

Saturday, spectators witnessed Camptown drawing first blood against Alpha United when Rishawn Sandiford scored as early as the third minute.

They managed to keep Alpha at bay for almost the entire first 45 minutes but the belligerent Shevane Seaforth,  who never stopped attacking, was finally able to score two minutes before the half time whistle.

In the second half it was the stronger, fitter team that prevailed by sticking to their game plan and executing passes on cue.

Alpha took the lead in the 70th minute when national player Dwayne Jacobs scored then Shawn Bishop, coming off of a double against New Amsterdam,  doubled Alpha’s lead with six minutes to go before the regulation time whistle.

Camptown’s Devon Forde leads the goal scoring table with four goals while Alpha United’s Shawn Bishop and Shevane Seaforth are tied at second with three goals. All three candidates have one game remaining; the victor will receive a Gold Chain, compliments of Junior’s Jewellry.

The other individual prizes are still up for the taking, they are: Most Valuable Player (MVP) donated by 2 J’s General Store, Best Goalkeeper and Two Computer Scholarship by Global Technology for the two most promising young players.

Tournament victors will cart off $500,000 while the runner up will have to settle for $200,000, third – $100,000 and fourth $50,000.