Sunburst Camptown and Beacons scored contrasting wins to advance to the quarter-finals on the opening night of the annual NAMILCO (National Milling Company) Football Festival at the Tucville ground.
Watched by a fair sized crowd that included Prime Minister Samuel Hinds, NAMILCO Managing Director Bert Sukhai and President of the Georgetown Football Associaton (GFA) Vernon Burnett, Camptown defeated University of Guyana (UG) 3-1 while Beacons crushed Northern Rangers 4-0 in a one-sided affair.
In the opening match, UG held its own against the seasoned campaigners Camptown after the Campbellville side had taken the lead in the 20th minute following a Devon Ford strike.
UG equalized four minutes later off the boot of Colin Bowery before the experienced Peter Parks sent Camptown back into the lead in the 31st minute.
Camptown held on to that 2-1 lead at half time.
Both teams squandered golden scoring opportunities in the second half but Camptown had more chances at goal.
Ford found the back of the net again almost on the sound of the final whistle to give Camptown a 3-1 victory and put them in sight of the top prize of $1 million and the NAMILCO trophy.
Beacons proved too strong for Northern Rangers in a lop-sided affair winning 4-0.
Beacons took almost the entire first half to score their first goal despite dominating their opponents before Tory Lambert sent them into the lead in the 45th minute.
The Beacons side took control of the second half with strikes from Sebastian Williams in the 62nd, Mikhail Stewart in the 70th and Lionel Grimes in the 78th minute of play.
Before the start of the second match, Prime Minister Hinds delivered brief remarks stating that he was surprised at the high standard of the facilities at Tucville ground. He urged football officials to improve the quality of the sport locally.
Sukhai said his company was extremely pleased to be sponsoring the tournament for another year and lauded the Fruta Conquerors Club for staging a remarkable tournament.
Sukhai also welcomed Prime Minister Hinds stating that it was the first time a top ranking government official attended the tournament.
Fruta Conquerors President Marlon Cole appealed to Hinds for assistance to start the construction of a pavilion at the ground.
The tournament continues tomorrow evening with another double header card at the same venue.
Guyana Defence Force will square off with Black Pearl at 18:00 Hours while the feature game will bring together the Guyana Police Force and Santos at 20:00 hours.
