League leader Pele FC and arch rival Fruta Conquerors battled to a scoreless draw when the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) Stag Beer Elite League continued on Saturday at the Tucville Community ground.
Arguably the second largest crowd to date in the event witnessed Pele move to 18 points at the top of the standings while the home side climbed onto 12 points and into the fourth position.
Unlike their first encounter which ended 2-1 in favour of Pele, this fixture was highlighted by a lack of chances as both defences were equal to the task in thwarting the respective attacking threats.
Undoubtedly, the best chance of the opening period in the 31st minute fell to the home side as Dennis Edwards almost broke the deadlock in sublime fashion.
Racing into the left side of the box, the unchallenged Edwards, upon rising high to meet a right sided cross, directed his goal-bound header onto the right upright, leaving custodian Devon Charles with no chance.
Pele’s best chance of the half occurred in the 37th minute as a powerful right footed shot was denied by the custodian Alex ‘Scotland Youth’ Murray low to his left.
The second period proved to be a carbon copy of the first stanza as both teams failed to fashion any clear cut opportunities. Edwards was once again in the thick of things and should have broken the deadlock in the 56th minute.
Similar to the first half stanza, Edwards nearly pushed the home side into the lead, rising above everyone within the right side of the box to direct his powerful header goal-bound, only to be denied brilliantly by the arms of Charles.
On the other side, the woodwork then came to the rescue of the hosts in the 77th minute as new recruit John Waldron attempted a lobbed shot from 30 yards out on the right the field, only for the attempt to crash onto the crossbar and fell into the path of Gregory Richardson who was in an offside position.
The opening fixture of the night saw the Alpha United defeating the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) by a 3-0 score line.
Winner of the round will pocket $4,000,000 while the second, third and fourth place teams will collect $2,000,000, $1,000,000 and $500,000 respectively. Similarly, the point’s leader prior to the knockout stage in the League Genesis round will pocket an additional $1,000,000.
Current Points Standings
Team GP W L D GF GA GD Pts
Pele 9 5 1 3 17 8 +9 18
Alpha United 9 4 1 4 13 7 +6 16
Slingerz 9 5 1 3 14 4 +10 15
Fruta Conquerors 9 3 3 3 9 10 -1 12
Guyana Defence Force 9 3 4 2 13 13 0 11
Buxton United 9 3 6 0 6 13 -7 9
GFC 9 2 5 2 8 15 -7 8
Monedderlust 9 2 6 1 7 16 -9 7
