Hearts of Oak Masters Football Club win masters competition

The Hearts of Oak Masters Football Club defied all the odds, travelled from Berbice and made a meal of their opponents to win the national masters football competition to register the first lien on the Mackeson Easter Classic Knockout Football Tournament trophy organised by the Georgetown Masters Football Association.
Twelve teams participated in the competition which saw the teams being divided into four groups comprising of three teams each, with the teams playing each other in the group with the two top teams emerging to contest the Knock out stage.
The teams participating were Hearts of Oak Masters Football Club, East Coast Master, Santos Football Club, Thomas United, Georgetown Football Club, Bacons, Pele, Fruta Conquers, Rastafarian Patriots, Brasimes, Top Klass and Huston Football Clubs.
In the group matches Hearts of Oak Masters defeated East Coast Masters 2-0 with Wesley Millington and Franklyn Victor scoring.  In their next game they suffered their only loss as they were defeated by Santos Football club 2-0. The two teams then advance to the Quarterfinal stage with Hearts of Oak Masters getting the better of Thomas United 1-0 through a Brian Simpson strike to book their place in the last four.
In their semifinal game it was time for sweet revenge as a reorganized and rejuvenated Hearts of Oak Maters made sure that their travel all the way from Berbice was worthwhile. The team from the Ancient County took on nemesis Santos the team that defeated them earlier and prevailed 4-3 on penalty kicks after the grueling encounter ended 0-0 after full time.
The Heart of Oak Masters then returned to the Capitol City to take on a spirited Georgetown Football Club in an enthralling encounter.  The match went down to the wire as both teams made up of a number of former national players showed spells of brilliance as the veteran ball weavers showed  glimpses  of the past.
Led by the Forde brothers Adrian and Sherwin and Phillip Carrington Hearts of Oak was able to prevail on sudden death penalties after the game ended 3-3 at full time and 5-5 after the penalty shootout.  The goal scorers for Hearts of Oak were Sherwin Forde 2 and Monty Fordyce 1. Netting for GFC were Clayton MC Cloud, Clifton Ruffino and Shawn Daniels.
In the third place playoff Santos got the better of Brasimes a team made up mostly of Brazilians 4-1. Julian Lewis scored all the goals while Lawrence December scored the consolation goal for the losers.
In the presentation ceremony that followed Hearts of Oak Masters received the beautiful Mackeson Trophy, 20 goal medals and $500,000 from the sponsors.
GFC for their part collected a trophy and $200,000. Third place finisher Santos was presented with a trophy and $100,000 while Conquers got a trophy and $50,000 for finishing fourth.
In the individual category Terrence Lewis of Hearts of Oak copped the MVP award, while Most Goal scorer award was taken by Shawn ‘Berbician’ Daniels of GFC. Andrew ‘Flowers ‘Hazel another Berbician playing for Santos took away the best Goal Keeper award, while the Hearts of Oak Masters Club showed why they were able to win the tournament by copping the most discipline team award.
Rastafarian Patriots defeated Conquerors in the plate finals to take some consolation.