Pele and Alpha United to battle for Championship

Dec 30, 2010 Sports

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Beat 10-man Sunburst Camptown 3-0 & Bakewell Topp XX in epic dual 3-1 on penalty kicks

On Saturday night the battle lines will be drawn between rivals Pele and Alpha ‘The Hammer’ United when the two sides clash for the 21st Kashif & Shanghai Championship following contrasting wins at the Guyana National Stadium, Providence last night.
Pele, in the feature game, put away 10-man Sunburst Camptown 3-0 with their main weapons leading the charge yet again, Devon Millington, Captain Gregory Richardson and Shawn Beveney all with second half strikes.
Alpha United held their resolve at the death to get past a resolute, energetic and tough Bakewell Topp XX side 3-1 on penalty kicks following an enthralling dual in regulation and extra time which ended 1-1. Custodian Ronson Williams continues his excellent form between the uprights by saving three penalty shots to lead Alpha into the finals.
Alpha drew first blood in the 22nd minute when Dwight Peters exploded to hit one past Richard Reynolds in goal for Topp XX. There after it was a ding dong battle as they say with both sides going after each other.
Topp XX matched Guyana’s top club side {Alpha}in every department in an electrifying, technical and tactical battle that was refreshing to witness.
The main event attraction however, saw Pele playing a patient game to turn back the challenge of Sunburst Camptown. It was always going to be a difficult task for Camptown, after they were reduced to 10 players one minute to half time when Orlando Gilgeous receiving his second yellow card, to keep Pele at bay for long.
As it turned out, the backline was breached six minutes into the second half when nagging forward Devon Millington banged in his fourth goal of the competition in three games; beating goalkeeper Maurice Prince.
Pele’s patience and the astute manner in which defender and former National Captain Charles ‘Lily’ Pollard has led the team once again, finally paid off. Captain Gregory Richardson controlling proceedings in midfield and upfront played the distributing roll for the most part but was always a threat to Camptown’s defense when he got forward.
To their credit, Camptown, while feeling the pressure of losing Gilgeous, tried their utmost to keep Pele at bay. Further pressure was placed on their defense when Sherwin Cadogan had to leave the pitch and was replaced by Kester Allen around the 75 minute mark.
Pele defense kept the inform Nigel ‘Powers’ Codrington and strike partner Devon Forward quiet which placed more pressure on the team.
Richardson finally broke down the defense to register a goal of his own in the 85th minute after wearing down the opposition’s defense to dribble Prince before slotting the ball into the nets. Shawn Beveney added a third for good measure in the final minute of regulation time to seal a solid win for Pele and a date with Alpha as both teams will go after their second Kashif and Shanghai Championship.
Alpha, though, did not find the sailing smooth at all despite having a star studded line-up. They were reminded by the Linden boys that they have not won five-championships by chance.
Topp XX is coached by Collie Hercules who is the Assistant to Wayne Dover, in charge of Alpha United and fans saw the Technical brains and genius of both tacticians on show. Both coaches actually stood up for almost the entire battle.
Hercules with a young but courageous team was up against an experienced and well gelled unit but the former did not allow the achievements of the latter to deter their aim.
So when Alpha cantered into the lead on 22 minutes through Dwight Peters, many felt that that was the beginning of more goals given the fact that Alpha was very dominant in midfield with the Brazilian duo of Clayton De Lima and Claudio Da Silva in good form along with the robust Grenadian forward Kithson Bain firing shots that had goalkeeper Richard Reynolds punching the ball away on many occasions.
Anthony Abrams too, fired some shots of his own but the experienced Reynolds was equal to the challenge.
Kayode Mc Kinnon played well for Topp XX and his experience and confidence in leadership kept the young Bakewell boys going.
As the time nipped away, Topp XX kept on fighting and enjoyed a good period of play from around the 75th minute.
Their persistence bore fruit in added on time when they won a corner and in desperation, even goalkeeper Reynolds went up to lend support.
The ball came over and Reynolds went up but was brought down in the box by Alpha Captain Howard Lowe. Kaieteur Sport understands that Reynolds suffered a broken finger as a result of the foul.
Referee Diane Ferreira-James had no hesitation in pointing to the spot. Specialist Travis Waterton made no mistake in converting in the 4th minute (90+4) of added on time. Thirty minutes of extra time failed to break the deadlock and it took penalty kicks to decide the winner.
Reynolds left for the hospital after extra time had ended and young Carlos Brown took over.
Ronson Williams stepped up for Alpha during penalty kicks and blocked three of Topp XX’s four shots; only Mc Kinnon found the back of the nets. Shots from Kenard Simon, Waterton and Javin Crawford were all saved by Williams. Lowe missed Alpha’s first but the other three were converted by Peters, Bain and Kelvin Mc Kenzie.
Topp XX and Camptown will battle in the 3rd and 4th place game on New Year’s night with Alpha and Pele taking on each other for the first place and bragging rights.

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